Backing for fast track jail

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland Mayor Len Brown is backing a Government move to fast-track resource consent hearings for a new prison in South Auckland.

But he is out of step with Manurewa Local Board chairman Daniel Newman, who says local views on the 960-bed prison at Wiri would be better heard through the normal resource consent process used by councils.

The prison is the second major project in Auckland which the Government wants rushed through its consenting phase.

In September, Environment Minister Nick Smith set up a board of inquiry to wrap up resource consent for the $1.4 billion Waterview motorway project in nine months.

Now Dr Smith has indicated in a letter to the council that he favours the fast track process for the prison which the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended be considered nationally significant.

Like Waterview, the board of inquiry for the prison would have five members headed by an Environment Court judge and be required to make a decision within nine months.

There would be no appeal rights to the Environment Court, only to the High Court on a point of law.

The prison, planned to be running by 2014, would be the first in New Zealand to be designed, built and operated under a public-private partnership and was needed to cope with the extra 2270 prison beds needed by 2019. An economic impact report expected the prison to bring $1.2 billion to the region over its 30-year lifespan.

A mayoral spokesman said when the matter comes up at the first proper council meeting today, Mr Brown would support the recommendation of council officers for a board of inquiry.

The process would provide an appropriate forum for the community to have its say and allow the council to lodge a submission on behalf of the local community, the spokesman said.

Mr Newman has written to Dr Smith, saying that the matter was of interests to residents and businesses in Wiri, Clendon and Manurewa.

"I consider that hearings convened by independent commissioners appointed by Auckland Council would best enable those submitters to read into evidence their analysis and reflections," Mr Newman said.

Yesterday, Mr Newman said the prison was a controversial project and if it could not be heard by independent commissioners he would like to see it referred to the Environment Court.

Dr Smith, who is seeking feedback from the council on the process, favours the board of inquiry process partly because of its informal nature.

If the matter was to go to the Environment Court, submitters would probably need legal representation.

The prison is one of several items on the council's first business agenda.

Mr Brown and the 20 councillors will also consider approving Westfield's private plan change to create the country's largest shopping mall by extending St Lukes, a proposal by the Historic Places Trust to register Queens Wharf as a category one historic place, and tougher controls for off-licence liquor outlets.

INSIDE STORY

* The new prison at Wiri is planned to be running by 2014.
* It will be the first in New Zealand to be designed, built and operated under a public-private partnership.
* It will have 960 beds.
* The prison is expected to bring $1.2 billion to the region over its 30-year lifespan.