Auckland councils fight for right to ban

Two Auckland councils are off to the Court of Appeal in a landmark case which will debate whether councils can ban general activities, such as goldmining in wilderness areas.

The Auckland Regional Council and Auckland City Council were granted leave yesterday for a Court of Appeal hearing on what rights councils have to prohibit a huge range of activities in their planning documents.

The case was sparked when the Minerals Industry Association and the Ministry for Economic Development challenged Thames Coromandel District Council's district plan, which banned goldmining in conservation and coastal zones and in all recreation and public open-space areas on the peninsula.

The Environment Court found in favour of the challengers, saying the prohibition on goldmining was too wide ranging. While prohibiting an activity was a legitimate planning tool, the court said, it should be used sparingly and in a precisely targeted way.

Last year, the High Court upheld that decision, but because of its far-reaching ramifications, the two Auckland councils decided to go to the Court of Appeal with anti-mining group Coromandel Watchdog and the Environmental Defence Society.

The councils say the ruling throws doubt on a whole raft of prohibited activities listed by all 12 of the country's regional councils and many district and city councils.

Yesterday, Auckland Regional Council planning and strategy committee chairman Paul Walbran said he believed that the two councils would win.

"There is huge pressure on Auckland's coastal areas for all sorts of things and we want to give some certainty to people about how we view these areas being used."

Auckland City Council spokeswoman Karen Bell said the council needed clarification on prohibited activities if it was to have confidence in its district plan.

As the ruling now stood, everything from a ban on introducing animal pests to Waiheke Island to demolition of the historic Category A listed Auckland Town Hall could be open to legal challenge.

"The community have told us they like those provisions and if [prohibited activity status] is in the act, then councils should have some jurisdiction to utilise it."