Dome Valley landfill proposal returns to court over river rules
A controversial landfill proposal for north Auckland is back in court, with Forest and Bird challenging the development over its impact on rivers.
Waste Management New Zealand proposes building and operating the 80-hectare landfill in Wayby Valley, near Dome Valley and Wellsford.
In 2021, an Auckland Council independent commissioner panel granted conditional approval for the landfill. That would have seen 12km of streams destroyed within the footprint of the landfill.
In 2023, the Environment Court issued a decision allowing the landfill to go ahead.
Forest and Bird appealed that decision, focusing on the relevance of river protections. That was heard at the Court of Appeal on Thursday.
Lawyer for Forest and Bird Martin Smith said it was agreed that the effect of the loss of 12.2km of streams could not be mitigated.
Waste Management New Zealand had proposed mitigating it through plantings alongside 50 to 60km of streams in the Hōteo River catchment and beside on-site streams, as well as through compensation.
Smith said the debate was about whether the significant effects could be offset or compensated.
He said the location of the landfill was also relevant, and that a landfill did not need to be located over a river to function: "It's not a hydro dam, it's not a port."
Forest and Bird did not accept statements that there was no better alternative site, Smith said.
Waste Management's lawyer Bal Matheson KC said the company had relied on offsets and compensation to reduce the level of impact to below material harm, and if there was no material harm then the rivers policy did not apply.
"We say it's entirely appropriate to offset and compensate."
Avoiding all effects was unreasonable and an inappropriate interpretation of the rules, he said.
As for the location of the landfill, Matheson said Waste Management took 10 years to select the site, avoiding places identified as high value ecological areas in the Auckland Unitary Plan.
He said he wasn't sure why the company was being criticised for building a landfill outside of a high value overlay.
Representing Ngāti Manuhiri, Jason Pou told the court the landfill proposal would allow hapū that had been historically dispossessed to rebuild their rohe and revitalise themselves by standing on their own land.
"There's a real impact on Ngāti Manuhiri in this in terms of their future generations," Pou said.
The new landfill was initially proposed to replace the company's Redvale landfill, which was consented to accept waste until December 2028.
Waste Management was seeking fast-track consent to expand Redvale Landfill and continue operations there to 2036. Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop granted the application for referral to the fast-track process in April.
Waste Management has also applied for referral to the fast-track process for its Wayby landfill. If referral is granted, the fast-track process would run alongside the court process.
The appeal was heard by Justices Jillian Mallon, Matthew Palmer and David Collins.
Justice Mallon said they were conscious of the need for a reasonably prompt decision.
They reserved their decision.
Timeline of events:
- 2021: Landfill given conditional approval by Auckland Council's independent commissioner panel
- 2023: Environment Court provisionally granted consent after iwi and community groups appealed council's decision
- 2024: High Court dismissed two appeals of Environment Court decision
- 2025: Forest and Bird asked for leave to appeal High Court decision, in Court of Appeal
- 2026: April, Court of Appeal grants leave in part for Forest and Bird to appeal
- 2026: August, Court of Appeal hears Forest and Bird appeal