Te Waihora / Lake Ellesmere. Photo: Phillip Capper
An environmental advocate is calling for greater clarity around future land-use consenting rules as an indoor cattle barn saga in Banks Peninsula comes to an end.
Farming company Wongan Hills has withdrawn an application to build large composting barns housing up to 2200 cattle at Kaituna Valley, 40km south of Christchurch.
Christchurch City Council approved the project in August 2021 with conditions but without asking for community input.
Public backlash saw Environment Canterbury open the project up for consultation, which saw the majority of respondents opposed to it.
The regional council announced this week the farming entity had pulled the pin on the proposal.
Little River Eco Collective campaigned against the barns on animal welfare and environmental grounds.
Spokesperson Donald Matheson said it was a win for the environment.
"We always said this was the wrong development, but also it was in the wrong place.
"There was a really high flood risk at that point where the developer wanted to put the the feed barns, and if they had flooded, it would have washed stuff into to Te Waihora / Lake Ellesmere, which is really severely degraded. So we're really glad that for whatever reasons he pulled out."
Matheson said there needed to be more clarity on how land-use rules and environmental regulation might change in the future.
"One of the key things that is really murky, and it was hard for us to get a clear answer from anyone, is the extent to which climate change is taken into account and consenting processes," he said.
"There have been directives from the Minister for the Environment to take climate change into account, but that's kind of forward-looking stuff and consents, of course, are approved on the basis of the current regulatory environment, and that really needs to change.
"With climate change a really acute problem now, it's only going to get worse. We shouldn't be consenting things that are going to increase the risks of flooding, but also emissions from cattle, so there needs to be more clarity on that.
"That's probably the key thing that we think there's more progress could be made on and guidance to people wanting to develop the land and, and those who are raising concerns about plans."