Pa proposal must address safety issues

The proposed pa site is at the corner of Recreation Rd and Station Rd, Kaikohe.

A proposal to build a pa on top of an old landfill in Kaikohe is not likely to come to life unless the trust behind the idea can come up with a business plan addressing safety issues.

However, the executive of the Maihi Memorial Parks Charitable Trust, Willie Maihi, said he can not produce the plan without funding.

Mr Maihi wants to transform the 5.2ha site into a working model pa for tourism but to make that vision come true he needs a lease of land from the FNDC. But because the land is an old landfill site there are public health and safety issues that Mr Maihi needs to address.

Far North mayor John Carter said he told Mr Maihi he needed to present a business plan, which showed how safety issues are to be addressed and demonstrated Mr Maihi had the capability and funding to deal with the landfill issues during the development, operation and maintenance of the proposed facility.

It also needed to show there would be adequate insurance cover to absolve ratepayers from any liability and show that the developer has sufficient funding to carry out the project.

"As far as we're concerned we've always said we like his proposal in principle. He needs to produce a business plan which shows he has adequate funding and engineers reports and other appropriate reports which show the site is safe," Mr Carter said.

Mr Maihi said he has not produced a business plan because of a lack of funding which he said he needs support from the council to obtain. He alleged the FNDC would not offer their support, or funding, because the landfill site was closed illegally.

However, Mr Carter said the landfill site was closed legally and he was not prepared to support something without seeing a business plan. He said the FNDC had offered to assist Mr Maihi in finding alternative locations but Mr Maihi was not interested.

"We have identified that land, it is my whenua - we're not going to take it anywhere else," said Mr Maihi.