Don’t Burn Waipa
The company behind plans to build a waste to energy plant in Waipā is on a New Zealand Gazette list to be removed from the Companies Register.
A digital illustration of the proposed waste to energy plant.
It says Global Contracting Solutions will cease to exist as a legal entity next Wednesday if no objections are received. Then, it would not be permitted to trade, enter into contacts or hold asserts.
But a spokesperson for the company says that will not be the case – and the announcement, listed online by the New Zealand Gazette was a Companies Office broadcast to many New Zealand companies related to the timing of submitting annual returns.
“GCS therefore intends to continue with progressing with Paewira,” project director Adam Fletcher said.
The News has sought a response from the New Zealand Gazette, which is the Government newspaper and journal of constitutional record.
Global Contracting Solution’s bid to construct a plant in Te Awamutu’s Racecourse Road to burn rubbish from around the region stalled last August when the Environmental Protection Authority revealed costs had not been paid.
This week EPA General Manager of Climate, Land and Oceans Garth Bloomfield told The News “we are aware of the Gazette notice and are currently considering our options”.
GCS began planning for a waste to energy plant eight years ago, found a site in Te Awamutu then unveiled its Paewira project.
Te Awamutu residents protested, and a lobby group – Don’t Burn Waipā – argued against both the site and the science of the plan.
The lobby group, aligned with the Zero Waste Network, advanced data to underscore their concerns about the impact the plant would have.
On the other side, Global Contracting Solution’s Craig Tuhoro spoke passionately when painting a completely different picture, pointing to similar and successful operations in Europe.
When the resource consent applications went to the Waipā district and Waikato regional councils, they were called in to an independent board of inquiry by environment minister Penny Simmonds.
The application attracted more than 2000 submissions, and a board of inquiry, chaired by Environment Court Judge Bryan Dwyer, sat for three weeks in Hamilton in June and July last year.
But when it appeared to be on the cusp of announcing a decision in mid-August, the authority reported the process had stalled.
Adam Fletcher said at the time the doubling of resource consent application costs had led to the suspension of the resource consent application.
It is also understood processing costs of more than $100,000 were owed to the district and regional councils.
Garth Bloomfield told The News the board of inquiry was separate from the EPA and had not made a final decision on the application when the suspension decision was made and “this remains the case”.
In January The News reported Environmental Protection Authority chief executive Allan Freeth had told Waipā District Council chief executive Steph O’Sullivan the company was attempting to raise capital to pay costs.
At the time, Global Contracting Solution posted an online video with Tuhoro saying he was struggling to understand why it was a political issue and “why we have so much activism around it”.
Waipā Mayor Mike Pettit told The News the company still had until July 15 to object to removal, “so it’s too early to say what this means for the resource consent application, but we’ll be following this closely”.
“Waipā District Council’s position on the plant hasn’t changed. We remain strongly opposed to it being built on Racecourse Road in Te Awamutu, and we’ll keep advocating for the community regardless of what happens with this process.”
Lobby group Don’t Burn Waipā – this photo comes from our files – was telling supporters about the Paewira application being suspended – while the EPA was telling The News to call back the next day.
