ECan councillors yet to see full report into chairman's consent breaches

Thursday, 25 July 2024

Despite having voluntarily “stood aside”, Peter Scott continued with many of his duties at ECan during the 10 week investigation. He did not return to the top job on Wednesday, but was “free to resume his role”. (File photo)

The situation remains murky at the regional council a week after the chairman was given a formal warning for breaches of the Resource Management Act.

Environment Canterbury councillors met on Wednesday for the first time since the release of the heavily redacted investigation which saw Peter Scott and two other men - South Canterbury businessman Gary Rooney and farmer John Chapman - given formal warnings for farming without the correct consents and in contravention of the Canterbury Land and Water Plan.

The 10 week investigation, which was shrouded in secrecy, began a month after Scott told a radio host he was “operating illegally” due to consent delays caused by LINZ (Land Information New Zealand).

Significant portions of the report by an unknown investigator relating to the consent breaches were redacted by ECan staff.

In a statement released by a public relations firm last week, Scott called the distraction caused by the issue “regrettable”, and noted he was now “free to resume” the role of chair after he “voluntarily stood aside”.

“It’s a privilege to chair such a focused and talented group of people and I’m looking forward to getting back into the role – we have a lot to do”, he said.

ECan chief executive Dr Stefanie Rixecker - who initally encouraged Scott to “lean into” his comments - echoed that, saying he was “free to resume his role” now the regulatory process was finished.

However, at Wednesday’s meeting, deputy chair Craig Pauling was still in the role of acting chair, as he had been since Scott stepped aside.

A farm owned by ECan chairman Peter Scott was sold to business man Gary Rooney, despite a small section of it not belonging to either man, after it was discovered it was owned by Land Information New Zealand (File photo)

An ECan spokesperson confirmed there were no procedural or formal requirements before Scott could resume the chairmanship.

Nor were there any items on the council’s agenda or in the public excluded portion of the meeting relating to the Scott’s return.

It’s understood councillors came together on Wednesday afternoon and expressed informal support for Scott to re-assume the role of chairman.

Piles of gravel can be seen on the former farm of ECan chair Peter Scott that was sold to South Canterbury business magnate Gary Rooney (File photo)

The lack of clarity came as the council voted to open its briefings and workshops to the public, months after a motion to do just that by councillor Greg Byrnes was voted down.

The Christchurch City Council agreed to a similar move in March, after a decade long push by councillor Yani Johanson and in the wake of a report by chief ombudsman Peter Boshier, in which he directed all councils to open workshops to the public by default.

ECan also agreed to livestream workshops once equipment is installed, which is expected to be within months as a result of February 2023 bid by councillor Joe Davies to stream meetings. The council is one of only two in the country not yet streaming its meetings.

“If my suspicions are correct the rut of secrecy is becoming more of a trench.”

Concerns raised by former ECan chairman Kerry Burke regarding transparency were not assuaged by the release of last week’s report, which had significant swathes redacted.

The censored sections of the report meant the public “knows irrigation occurred without consents in place, including on land not owned by the interviewees,” but had “no idea of the level of their culpability”.

Sir Kerry Burke, seen here during his stint as ECan chair, says the release of the report raised more questions than answers (file photo)

“The release of these documents raises more questions than it provides answers and seems, again, to be a case of high level matters being dealt with in secret by management rather than in public by the elected Council,” Burke said.

Councillors should be responsible for high level decisions on what information was kept from the public, he said.

However, it appears councillors have yet to see the full report.

An Environment Canterbury spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday councillors were not privy to the full investigation.

Burke, who had previously called for the investigation to be led by a retired judge or KC, said the name of the investigator and the terms of reference needed to be public, to “allow members of the public who follow regional council matters to make their own assessments about whether this was an issue that was taken seriously”.

The investigator’s name and the council they work at was kept secret, to protect their privacy, , ECan director of operations Stephen Hall said.

Hall confirmed ECan would not attempt to recover any of the $66,000 the report cost.

“It was our choice to do an independent investigation.”

Nor were there any other investigations under way aside from the Resource Management Act investigation.