PNCC takes the $250,000

A while ago I blogged about Palmerston North City Council's plan to develop a windfarm in the Turitea Reserve. The first stage of this plan is to change the purpose of the reserve to add renewable energy generation alongside the current purposes of water supply and the protection of indigenous flora and fauna. The council has since held a public consultation on this, and despite two thirds of the 530 submissions being against any re-purposing, decided to proceed. As a result, it will collect a cool quarter of a million from Mighty River Power as a "milestone payment". Our local government is openly for sale to the highest bidder, and it is apparently entirely legal.

The next step is resource consent. I'll be submitting against it (I support wind power, but not in reserves), but I don't have much faith in the process. PNCC will effectively be hearing its own case (it will receive rent from Mighty River for its use of council-owned land if the wind farm goes ahead), and of course will receive another "milestone payment" if consent is granted, so the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Instead, I think the only way of opposing this is political. Local body elections are next year, and our mayor and councillors must be held accountable at the ballot box for their decision.