Appendix 3 – The MDC Report Establishing the Hearing Panel

It is anticipated that a hearing is likely to take 2-3 weeks. This though is dependent on how many submissions are made and how many submitters wish to speak to their submissions.

Hearings Panel

The new resource management legislation makes some important changes in the manner in which hearings are to be conducted and will have particular impact in respect of the TrustPower application. The new legislation provides much greater power for the hearings committee or panel to be involved prior to the actual hearing to determine if further information is required prior to a hearing and also whether, in more complex cases, submissions need to be pre-circulated prior to the actual date of the hearing.

Given the legislative change it is important that a panel be appointed to enable it to carry out functions now enabled by legislation.

It will require a panel with expertise in both a legal and technical manner. It should also involve representation from the local community.

It is suggested that the panel could consist of:

• Chairperson – Mr A A P Willy. Mr Willy has a legal background which will be required to ensure correct legal process is followed and this application will, being a non-complying activity, require a stringent review of whether the application is able to surmount the legal tests for a non-complying activity.
• Council representative – it is suggested Councilor Jill Bunting fulfils this role as Councilor Bunting is a hearings chair.
• Mr Max Barber – has already been appointed as a commissioner for hearings generally. He comes with a strong policy background and strategic perspective and has heard a number of complex water applications, including the SVIS irrigation scheme.

While Messrs Willy and Barber are already on the approved list of independent commissioners staff consider it prudent to reconfirm them as commissioners for the TrustPower application U050729.

The panel will likely appoint technical experts to assist them with a range of specialist advice.

Recommended

That pursuant to s34A of the Resource Management Act 1991 the following are appointed as the panel for the TrustPower Limited application (U050729) hearing:

Mr A A P Willy (chair), Councilor J Bunting and Mr M Barber.