Rotorua Lakes Council has filed a cross-appeal in the latest twist in a long-running court battle over the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme near Lake Rotokākahi.
The move follows an appeal by the Rotokākahi Board of Control, which is seeking stronger consequences after the High Court found the council had broken the law in its handling of aspects of the project.
In August, Justice Kiri Tahana ruled the council acted unlawfully when it approved the sewerage scheme in 2020 without properly engaging the board, which governs the iwi-owned lake.
She also found the council was wrong to determine associated earthworks could proceed without resource consent.
The judge found the council failed to adequately consider Lake Rotokākahi’s cultural significance and the board’s interests before progressing the project.
However, she declined to order the decisions to be reconsidered, noting the about $30 million sewerage scheme had already been built and most properties around Lake Tarawera had been connected to Rotorua’s wastewater network.
The Rotokākahi Board of Control has gone to the Court of Appeal about the lack of remedies and, in a media release this week, chairman Wally Lee criticised the council’s decision to file a cross-appeal.
He said the council could have acknowledged it got it wrong and offered to work with the board “to address the harm of forcing a pipeline past your tapu [sacred] lake”.
“Instead it has chosen more litigation.”
Lee said the board accepted the High Court’s findings but felt stronger implications were required.
The board is seeking orders that could include quashing a Resource Management Act section 87BB notice relating to earthworks; requiring the council to reconsider its decisions; or returning the issue of relief to the High Court.
“We went to court to hold the council to account, and we won,” Lee said.
“But a finding of unlawfulness with no consequence tells every council in the country that if you build fast enough, the law can’t catch you.”
The board said the council’s cross-appeal sought to overturn the High Court’s findings.
Lee also argued the council had spent significant amounts of public money defending its actions through the courts and should instead focus on addressing the harm caused by the project.
He said discussions between the parties continued but claimed the council had so far offered only a commitment to continue talking.
“Talking is what it should have done in 2020,” he said.
“It needs to put something real on the table.”
In a statement, a council spokesperson confirmed the council lodged a cross-appeal last month to “preserve its position”.
“As the matter is before the courts, we are unable to comment further.”
The Tarawera Sewerage Scheme was designed to improve water quality in Lake Tarawera by replacing lakeside septic tanks with a reticulated wastewater network connected to Rotorua’s sewerage system.
The project became controversial after it emerged that part of the pipeline route would run alongside the Māori-owned tapu lake.
It sparked protests and legal action from opponents, who argued the council had failed to recognise the lake’s cultural and legal significance properly.
In her August judgment, Justice Tahana described the lakes as “precious taonga” and said there was value in formally declaring the council’s decisions unlawful so it would “take notice and care” when undertaking similar future activities.
A hearing date has yet to be allocated.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
