‘I’ve made mistakes’ - ECan chairman Peter Scott stands down over speeding

Thursday, 26 September 2024

Goneburger: Environment Canterbury regional council chair Peter Scott.

Environment Canterbury chairman Peter Scott has stepped down from his role leading the regional council following revelations of repeated, “excessive” speeding in his council-issued car, using publicly-funded fuel.

“I recognise the damage it is doing to this organisation… I acknowledge I’ve made mistakes from a personal perspective,” he said.

The move will mean his pay packet drops from the $186,660 he gets as chairman to a councillor’s pay of $74,107. He will no longer be entitled to a council car.

Scott gave up his council car - which his relatives were allowed to use and came with a fuel card - last week following revelations it had been clocked speeding 678 times since January, reaching speeds of 157kph. Scott apologised to the public and his council colleagues and committed to taking a defensive driving course.

Almost half of the instances of speeding - 326 - were in excess of 15kph above the speed limit. The car was recorded speeding 46 times on one day, and breaching the speed limit by more than 50kph four times.

Driving more than 50kph over the speed limit can result in criminal prosecution.

In a statement at that time, Scott said he was “surprised” at the level of breaches, and that regular commuting between his home in South Canterbury and ECan’s Christchurch headquarters had resulted in “a lot of driving”. The incident had caused him to “reflect” on his driving habits, and he pledged to “do better”.

Councillors met with Scott on Wednesday in a private meeting, which an ECan spokesperson said staff had “no visibility of” and did not know about.

Peter Scott has apologised to the public and given up his council car after it was recorded speeding 678 times since January.

The same day Press editor Kamala Hayman wrote an opinion piece saying he was no longer credible as chairman and should go.

On Thursday morning, Scott issued a statement saying he would stand down as chairman but stay on as a councillor.

“Following recent publicity about my personal behaviour it has become increasingly apparent that the focus on me is a distraction from the work of the Canterbury Regional Council.

“Although this publicity has not been directly related to my work as chairman, I recognise the damage it is doing to this organisation, and I have decided to step down as chair, effective tomorrow.

Outgoing ECan chairman Peter Scott’s statement couched his mistakes as “personal behaviour”, rather than “directly related to my work as chairman”.

“Councillor Pauling will be acting chair until the council meeting on October 23, when the council will appoint a new chair for the remainder of the term.”

He went on to say he was proud to have led the council through important work since the 2022 elections, and he wanted to “remain part of” the work yet to be done.

“I acknowledge I’ve made mistakes from a personal perspective, and these are for me to learn from. By stepping down as chair, I expect the focus to shift from me to the work we need to deliver for the environment and the people of Waitaha.”

The speeding saga came fast on the heels of a separate controversy in which Scott temporarily stood aside as chairman during a 10-week, $66,000 Resource Management Act investigation following his claims in a radio interview that he was “operating illegally” on his South Canterbury farm.

Philip Maw, national managing partner at law firm Wynn Williams, draws the name of Peter Scott from a tin after the vote for chair deadlocked at eight votes each between Scott and contender Craig Pauling (File photo).

In the interview, Scott told broadcaster Heather du Plessis-Allan he was sympathetic to farmers facing resource consent delays, volunteering his own difficulties in getting consent from his own council, which had spanned six years.

Scott, who has been on the regional council since 2016 and served as deputy chair between 2018 and 2022, became chairman in October 2022 after a tied vote ended with his name being pulled from a tin. His rival for the role, Craig Pauling, became his deputy.

Consents have long been a sore point for the regional council, pre-dating Scott’s chairmanship.

In 2023/24, the council processed 26% of non-notified consents within the legal time frame, significantly lower than any of the country’s 10 other regional councils.

Attempts to right the consents ship have cost the council, with $5.4m from other areas put towards fee discounts, new staff and consultants in the past year.

Other issues of transparency and accountability have swirled, with a recent agreement to livestream the council’s meeting bringing it into line with the city council, community boards and almost all the country’s other regional councils, though it has yet to be fully implemented.

Former ECan chair Sir Kerry Burke expressed concern about a “rut of secrecy” within the organisation following the release of the investigation report in Scott’s farm, which was heavily redacted, and not shared in full even with fellow councillors.

ECan is responsible for the largest geographic region in the country and manages 70% of New Zealand’s fresh water resources.

Its 16 councillors, elected in 2022, are part of only the second democratically elected cohort since the turbulent dismissal of the entire council in 2010, when the Key government installed commissioners.