Faster resource consent
Her Worship the Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast, wants the resource consent process to be faster for energy-related projects such as Meridian's wind farm.
The Mayor is pushing for a faster resource consent process to speed up energy-related projects such as Meridian's proposed wind farm at Makara northwest of the capital.
After spending tens of millions of dollars going through a two year consent process the energy company is now deciding whether the project is still financially viable.
Her Worshipmsays proposals such as the wind farm, which have the potential to provide power to the whole Wellington region, should not be hampered by lengthy resource consent decisions. She says at the moment, applicants have to go through a council consent process and in many cases, apply to Environment Court and the High Court. Ms Prendergast says when a project is of such national significance, there should only be one resource consent hearing.