Dear John,

Wishing you a happy New Year. I hope you enjoyed a break over the Christmas and New Year and the opportunity to catch up with family and friends that you hadn’t seen for a while.

I am back enjoying the life of an electorate MP and I hope to see many of you over the year. It will be good to hear your concerns and receive your input once again.

I was invited to a community meeting last week in Karaka to discuss the latest proposal by Counties Power to build a Power Substation on the corner of Whangapouri Rd and SH 22, which is in the middle of a well-established lifestyle block area.  This proposal has progressed without Counties Power consulting all the local residents who are many and who have a number of reasons to oppose the installation on that particular site.

After I attended the meeting held safely at one of the potentially affected residents’ homes and given the current ‘Covid status’ I took the quickest opportunity to discuss the matter with the Chief Executive of Counties Power Judy Nicholl by telephone, and outlined the main concerns: 

1. The proposal will cause major issues with traffic management- massive disruption and dangerous road conditions with trucks and construction at the proposed site and ongoing issues with the restricted view at the intersection;
2. Only consulting with the two closest neighbouring property owners and then wrongly naming the private home beside the site as ‘A Buddhist Temple’, and the Navigation Show Home as a ‘storage site’ when obviously it will be sold as a private home in due course. In my opinion, Counties Power have failed to contact or consult any other close home owner in the area apart from these two;
3. The issue of pylons. Counties Power say they have absolutely ‘no intention’ of adding pylons to the site but this is simply not sufficient assurance that this will be the case;

The privately owned properties in this area were purchased without pylons or any indication of them being installed and the argument that other people ‘ live with them’ is clearly offensive and without empathy for lifestyle block owners. They clearly did not anticipate or envisage these plans by Counties Power, when deciding to live in the countryside, as most have long established homes and have lived here for many years;

1. The lack of consultation with affected owners and neighbours shows disregard for private home owners and the efforts they have made to develop this area into a pleasant semi-rural community. The residents do not believe a significant industrial installation has a place in a rural/lifestyle location. There is a significant amount of land nearby that is zoned for future industrial development that would be better suited for this construction.

When I spoke to the Chief Executive of Counties Power to discuss these issues and I advised that there would be multiple complaints lodged with Counties Power, Auckland Council, and NZ Transport Agency- Waka Kotahi by the residents.

She informed me that they would be willing to look at an alternative site. She advised that there were no sites available at Paerata nor at Wesley. 

In my opinion, these decisions are normally an issue of money for the power company. They are seeing this as part of a 10 year plan, and if someone fronts up with another piece of land that works for Counties Power’s infrastructure, then they might well agree to take that option instead. I advised that it is Counties Power’s job to find a better site. However, if anyone knows of another, then that would be worth putting it forward to Counties Power. 

The residents and I agree that the Wesley development or Paerata could be better options for the substation, as it seems to be primarily for the benefit of the housing and development going on there.

I fully acknowledge the Karaka residents’ concerns about property devaluation, and it is clear that if they were to sell now, they are obliged to let prospective buyers know about the substation. That is a genuine concern and is certainly not something that could have been anticipated

I will take further action on this by meeting with the NZTA in regards to road safety on the restricted view corner of Whangapouri Road and SH22 and the roundabout plans that were canned.

The local residents have agreed to contact Auckland Council with submissions to show their overwhelming disapproval of the chosen site and they are determined to do everything to have it moved. So please take a couple of minutes to make a submission if this issue affects you or someone you know. The affected area includes Whangapouri Road, SH22, Manawai Lane, Karaka Road, Bycroft Road and Oira Road. 

The address for an email on this issue is [email protected] Attn: Planning Technician. Submissions need to be made by 25 February 2022.

Best wishes and stay safe,

Judith

Hon Judith Collins
http://judithcollins.national.org.nz/