Category: submissions

Make a Quick and Easy Submission on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan – Submissions close on Friday 20 February

Posted on by stb_nyltr0

In an earlier post, we told you about the importance of submitting on Wellington’s Draft Regional Land Transport Plan, which local body politicians use to set transport priorities for the city. Submissions close at 4pm on Friday 20 February.

Now there’s a quick and easy online form you can use to make your submission, prepared by the good folks at Generation Zero in conjunction with FIT Wellington. Here’s all you need to do:

Go to http://www.generationzero.org/wellingtonrltp and fill in the quick submission form as follows:

– Enter your name

– Enter your email address

– Tick the four boxes that follow

– Enter any comments you want to make.

– Answer the question: Do you want to make an oral presentation?  Tick yes or no

– Send it.

One thing we’d really like you to say: it’s time to take any prospect of a Basin Reserve flyover off the table, and focus on developing better, more sustainable solutions!

Oral submissions will be heard by the Regional Transport Committee on 9/10 March. We encourage you to make an oral submission if you’re available to do so.

Basin Flyover Hearing Heads To The Basin Reserve

Posted on by tjonescan

With the three-month extension to the Basin Reserve flyover hearing, the hearing has had to find a new venue – and it has settled on the Norwood Room in the RA Vance Stand at the Basin Reserve, where the hearing will be held from today (Monday 31 March) onwards.

It seems appropriate that a hearing on a project that could, according to cricket witnesses called by the Basin Reserve Trust, place the future of Basin Reserve as a Test cricket ground in jeopardy, is heading to ‘the scene of the crime’. There remains a lot to be said at the Hearing about the urban design, heritage, landscape and cricket-related flaws of NZTA’s flyover plans. It will be easier to make those flaws vivid when the setting that would be affected is right outside the window.

A recent Dominion Post article highlights the threat to the Basin Reserve as a cricket ground from the proposed flyover:

Flyover view may dismiss Basin Tests.

There’ll be more to come!

EPA Imposes Ludicrously Short Response Time On Basin Flyover Submitters

Posted on by tjonescan

The whole Basin “Bridge” (flyover) Board of Inquiry process  has been rendered dangerously close to farce by the nine-month timetable imposed on the Board process by the Government. However, the latest move by the Kerry Prendergast-chaired Environmental Protection Authority, which administers the Board, has plumbed new depths in its apparent contempt for submitters on the project.

At 5.35pm on Friday 17 January, the EPA sent submitters the Draft Hearing Schedule, a complex document that requires careful consideration – even making it legible is a challenge. Each submitter needs to check the time(s) that they are meant to appear and respond to the EPA if any changes are needed.

And how long have submitters been given to respond? One working day. The EPA has imposed a deadline of 5pm on Tuesday 21 January, and Monday 20 January is a public holiday in Wellington – so it’s Tuesday or bust, especially if you’re away from Wellington for the weekend.

Is this fair or reasonable? Absolutely not. Whether this is a deliberate attempt by the EPA to make it impossible for submitters to appear before the Board, or whether it is merely the product of incompetence, we will leave for the reader to decide. But such absurd and unrealistic deadlines raise serious questions about any notion of this Board of Inquiry conducting a fair, unbiased and objective hearing process.

Please contact your local MP and let them know how unfairly this EPA process is treating submitters.

What Submitters Do And Don’t Have To Do This Week

Posted on by tjonescan

Some submitters have contacted the Campaign, concerned that they have to finish the oral submission they plan to make to the Board (also known as their representation) by this Friday, 13 December. This is not the case.Friday 13 December is the deadline for expert evidence, and so it is only relevant to those submitters who are putting forward expert witnesses.

The important date for all submitters who pan to appear before the Board is Monday 16 December. There are two things you must do no later than Monday 16 December:

1) Notify the Board if you plan to cross-examine any witnesses. You also need to send this notification to the party (e.g. NZTA) who is calling each witness. You must make these notifications by noon on Monday 16 December.

2) Notify the Board if you plan to make an oral submission (representation). You must do this even if you have previously told them (e.g. at the time of making your original submission) that you want to make a representation/oral submission.

As usual, you should contact the Board at BasinBridge@epa.govt.nz

These are the main points about Monday the 16th, but for the full details, see the latest version of the Indicative Timetable at

http://www.epa.govt.nz/Publications/BB66_Memorandum_No.27_Changes_to_timetable.pdf

Note that the hearing start date has now been postponed until Monday 3 February.

Last Day To Submit On Proposed Basin Flyover – And What To Do If Your Submission Isn’t Acknowledged

Posted on by tjonescan

STOP PRESS: Submissions have just closed – and we’ve had one submitter who submitted by email contact us to say that they haven’t received any response to their submission. We suggest that, if you don’t get a reply to your submission, you send a followup email to basinbridge@epa.govt.nz asking whether your submission has been received, and cc it to the Friend of the Submitter, Mark St Clair, m.stclair@hyc.co.nz

Your submission should be acknowledged! If you haven’t had a satsifactory response to your followup enquiry after a couple of working days, please contact stoptheflyover@gmail.com with “Submission Not Acknowledged” in the subject line, and we’ll follow this up for you.

— original post —

This is it, folks: submissions on the proposed Basin Reserve flyover (“Basin Bridge”) close today at 5pm. Don’t leave it until the very last minute to submit.

The online submission form is on this page: http://www.epa.govt.nz/Resource-management/Basin_Bridge/Pages/Basin_Bridge.aspx

Remember that it times out after an hour.

Save the Basin’s Submission Guide is here: http://savethebasin.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/24/submission-guide-proposed-basin-bridge-flyover/

And please remember to:

  • Submit
  • Cover all the topic areas you have concerns about in your submission. If you don’t mention it now, you can’t add it in later
  • Ask to appear in front of the hearing
  • Ask to appear separately, not jointly
  • Ask your friends and family members to submit
  • Submit well before the deadline of 5pm.

Good luck, and many thanks to all those who have already submitted!

This Sunday, 2pm: Save the Basin Workshop on Basin Flyover Submissions

Posted on by tjonescan

In recent posts we have highlighted the importance of campaign supporters making their own voices heard in the upcoming Board of Inquiry. The Save the Basin Campaign will be making a submission, but it is also important that campaign supporters make their own submissions to express their opposition to the Flyover.

To assist campaign supporters in preparing their submissions, we are running a submissions workshop:

When – 2 PM Sunday 25 August 2013
Where – New Crossways, Level 1, 6 Roxburgh St
Duration – up to 2 hours

The workshop will:

  • Provide an overview of the Flyover proposal and why we believe it should be opposed
  • Answer your questions about the Flyover proposal, or advise you on how your questions could be answered
  • Provide material on reasons for opposing the Flyover
  • Provide an opportunity to discuss and clarify your reasons for opposing the Flyover
  • Provide information and answer your questions on how best to capture your views in your submission
  • Answer your questions about the Board of Inquiry (BOI) process – timelines; role of the BOI; role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); appearing at the hearing and what you can expect to happen.
  • Provide advice on how to write good submissions

The Friend of Submitter (Mark St Clair) will attend the workshop to provide advice. Some of you might have been planning to attend one or some of the other “drop in” sessions already arranged by the Friend of Submitter – and you might still choose to do that. Our workshop will provide you with a similar opportunity to receive advice direct from the Friend of Submitter, but it will also go well beyond what the Friend of Submitter can do as it will also provide an opportunity to discuss and receive advice on what you actually put in your submission in opposition to the Flyover. That is something the Friend of Submitter is not able to do**.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the Workshop. If you cannot make the Workshop but still need advice or help with your submission, please contact us at stoptheflyover@gmail.com and we will provide as much help as we are able to.

** The Friend of Submitter is appointed by the EPA but is otherwise independent of the EPA. The EPA explains the role of the Friend of Submitter as follows: The Friend of Submitter is able to help with information on the board of inquiry process, making a submission, how to capture your views in your submission, and what steps you will need to take after your submission is lodged. The Friend of Submitter cannot advise you on whether to make a submission or what to include in it.