Council to consider appealing Ohinewai hearings decision

Waikato Regional Council will consider whether to appeal a decision by hearings commissioners to approve the rezoning of Ohinewai, in northern Waikato, for the “Sleepyhead Estate”.

In a decision released this afternoon, independent hearings commissioners approved the rezoning of land to make way for a large-scale industrial and residential development at Ohinewai proposed by Sleepyhead. 

The council made a joint submission with Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency opposing the rezoning request due to a range of concerns, including:

• its effects on the Waikato Expressway, a road of national significance designed to facilitate inter-regional travel and the movement of freight, through the creation of a car-dependent new residential development
• its development within a low-lying floodplain, which would require substantial infilling and ongoing protection
• lack of certainty about how water and wastewater will be managed.

Waikato Regional Council Chair Russ Rimmington said the two agencies acknowledged during the hearings that industrial development may have significant economic benefits.

“We recognise there will always be a need to be responsive in how the region uses and develops its land, you can’t predict everything. This is exactly why the Regional Policy Statement provides flexibility so long as the reasons for doing so are sufficiently compelling and the costs acceptable.

“We agreed with the panel that the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the industrial components of the proposal – the economic and employment opportunities created could be of great benefit to the local community.”

However, the council disagreed that allowing housing in places that will exacerbate car dependency and, in this case risk undermining the rejuvenation of Huntly, was a good outcome.

Councillors have previously heard that the Sleepyhead Estate proposal does not give effect to the Waikato Regional Policy Statement, which the regional council is responsible for, nor the Future Proof spatial plan developed by a number of councils, iwi and other agencies.

“We don’t want decisions that we may regret in the future,” Cr Rimmington said.

“We’ll need time to review the detail of the decision released today by the hearings commissioners to see if these effects have been adequately addressed.”

The council has until 12 July 2021 to either appeal the whole decision, part of the decision or certain details.