Hamish Edwards in action at The Hills golf course during day one of the ISPS Handa NZ Open in Arrowtown in 2018. Photo / Michael Thomas, www.photosport.nz
Hamish Edwards in action at The Hills golf course during day one of the ISPS Handa NZ Open in Arrowtown in 2018. Photo / Michael Thomas, www.photosport.nz
A company wanting to construct a world-class seaside golf course near Ōhau is to contest a recent decision declining resource consent in court.
Grenadier Ltd has lodged an appeal with the Environment Court after an application for Resource Consent was denied by a Horizons Regional Council following a hearing in Levin in May.
Grenadier's lawyer John Maassen has since lodged a Notice of Appeal in the Environment Court, claiming "errors and deficiencies" in the Horizons panel's analysis as grounds for appeal.
A hearing is expected in Wellington later this year.
In its decision, Horizons commissioners Christine Foster, Reg Proffitt, and Dr Fluer Maseyk declined to consent for earthworks and vegetation clearance on areas of the coastal foredune.
The panel was also concerned about the effect consent would have on the relationship between iwi and their ancestral land.
A section of the 107-hectare coastal block - which is in private ownership - was the site of a pre-1900 pā called Tirotirowhetu, deemed to be of high cultural significance and wāhi tapu to local iwi.
Of the three iwi involved in the consent hearing, Muaūpoko and Ngāti Kikopiri had since indicated support for the golf course, while Ngāti Tukorehe remain opposed.
Grenadier principal Hamish Edwards said wider community support was behind the decision to appeal the Horizons decision.
"Why are we appealing? Because it is our legal right to do that, and because there has been a huge amount of support from the community, from business, from golfers - and from iwi," he said.
"They're telling me we appreciate what you are doing."
Edwards said there was the opportunity for iwi to share their history and relationship with the land and saw that as an integral part of the development.
"I don't want to pay lip service to the ancestral and cultural history of the land but this really needs direction from iwi and help from iwi...it will tell their story," he said.
"To my knowledge, it will be the first golf course in New Zealand to do that."
"But in order to do that, we have to build a golf course."
Edwards said a golf course would make far less of an imprint on the land than its use as a forestry block, or a dairy farm, or a potential housing development.
"We believe we can restore the dunes in a sensitive and sensible way that is respectful to the land and respectful to iwi," he said.
Edwards said the project would fully fund plans to eradicate exotic weed species and return more than 185,000 native plants to the land as part of restoration work.
"That work is part of the process...it will be a shining example of ecological improvement," he said.
Edwards said Grenadier would employ local contractors and businesses where possible. As many as 100 people would be involved in the construction of the 18-hole links course, tagged to cost more than $50 million to complete.
An aerial view of the original Douglas Links golf course plans, showing the Ohau River to the right and the Tasman Sea to the west.
"If a judge says you can't build a golf course, that's pretty much the end of the project... that's fine. I'm a businessman, this is business, you don't take it personally," he said.
"But if we get the go-ahead, we're going to build a great golf course. It will be the jewel in the crown of the Horowhenua."
Should the proposal gain consent, it could be open to the public by October 2025. The course would attract an estimated 15,000 golfers annually and would be accessible to all levels of golfer, he said.
"The numbers still stack up. It will return a modest profit, and that profit will be invested back into the land," he said.
Maassen said in the Notice of Appeal the proposal hinged on the course adhering to certain design components, with little room for further redesign.
"Unless those design components can be achieved there is no purpose in constructing the golf course under the proposal since it will lack the attributes and, ultimately, the calibre necessary to attract people passionate about golf," it said.
