Council waiting on NZTA to make complaint over delayed roadworks at intersection

Thursday, 3 April 2025

Timaru council staff say they are expecting a complaint from NZTA over the work which should have been done on SH1 outside The Showgrounds development.

Timaru’s council is waiting on a complaint from the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi over delays to work at The Showgrounds intersection, before it tackles the issue with the developer.

Councillor Stu Piddington asked for an update on what was being done to resolve issues on State Highway 1, outside the retail development, during Tuesday’s Timaru District Council meeting.

The developer of the retail centre was required to replace an existing culvert that runs under State Highway 1/Evans St by March 2024.

But the work is yet to be done, and it has been met with frustration from councillors, business owners and motorists.

Councillors Stu Piddington, pictured with councillor Michelle Pye during Tuesday’s meeting, asked for an update on issues pertaining to The Showgrounds development.

The lack of progress has been a long-running issue, and in February mayor Nigel Bowen aired his frustrations saying the developer was “playing games’’.

The council’s group manager environmental services, Paul Cooper, said council staff had been talking to senior NZTA staff about the ongoing issue.

“We are encouraging them to formulate their complaint so that we can quantify the negative effects, and then look at what enforcement action we can take following that,” Cooper said.

“They’ve given us an undertaking that they will give us that statement of complaint.”

Piddington then asked for a timeline, saying NZTA had “dragged their feet, largely, on this”.

The developer plans to proceed with the second stage of The Showgrounds when the ‘economic climate’ is more conducive.

Cooper replied: “They were pleased to hear from us. We spoke to them at a senior management level, we’re just trying now to get some movement in the rank and file towards getting that actually to materialise.

“If we don’t hear much this week, we’ll go back to senior management again because they were quite keen to get it moved ahead.”

Piddington also asked Timaru District Holdings Ltd (TDHL) representatives for an update on the development, and specifically about the large stockpile of dirt sitting there.

TDHL chairperson Mark Rogers said there had been no update on the stockpile since the last meeting, and the land was still under contract with a deadline of the end of October.

Timaru District Holdings chairperson Mark Rogers, left, and general manager Frazer Munro field questions at Tuesday’s council meeting.

TDHL has a sale and purchase agreement in place with the developer for the land.

Piddington asked whether TDHL had any interaction with the developer, or if it would just await the next deadline, to see whether the stockpile had been removed.

“We do have engagement with the developer, but its primarily a developer and consenting matter and the contracts are over the top of that,” TDHL general manager Frazer Munro said.

Meanwhile, almost four months after the council turned down an application for further changes to the consent for The Showgrounds, it is about to review another.

On Wednesday, a council spokesperson said the developer had provided additional information, to accompany an application lodged in December, late last month.

Heavy machinery pictured parked up at The Showgrounds development last month.

They said that was now under review.

The application followed another which was lodged in November, just over a week after it was confirmed a new developer had taken over the development with the former running out of money.

The company behind the development wants the council to change a traffic monitoring condition and allow another extension to its deadline for removing the stockpile, to align with the new settlement date of October 31, 2025.

The application, prepared by Foster and Melville architects, also gave an update on the plans for the site saying the company “continues to advise of its desire to undertake the Stage 2 development when the ‘economic climate’ will be more conducive for a start to be made”.

It said the second stage would not commence until the stockpile had been “redistributed over the site”.

The latest application for a consent change from the developer of The Showgrounds says the plan is to spread the stockpile over the land which Stage 2 will eventually be built on.

“The overall contemplated building development is proposed to be the same as that initially consented and is seen as representing the better use of the site … to better achieve the financial and other outcomes … being sought by the applicant.”

It surmised that the effects of the additional time to undertake the clause relating to the stockpile would be “less than minor”.

The initial application, lodged in November, was turned down on the grounds it was incomplete, and the company had failed to pay the application fee, with the council saying “… very little is proffered other than that it is no longer financially viable to comply with consent conditions”.

At the time, the council informed the developer it would need to lodge a new application should it wish to proceed with the matter.

The application lodged in December included specific dates for traffic monitoring and timelines for removal of the stockpile which was to start by January 30 and be “completely removed within the earthworks season, being up to and including June 2025”.

The council has granted a number of changes to consents and its holdings company, Timaru District Holdings Ltd, has agreed to extensions to settlement deadlines in the hope of seeing the project completed.

In April 2024, the council took a $100,000 bond and imposed a deadline of December 1, 2024, for the removal of the stockpile.

In mid-December, the council confirmed it had agreed to hold the bond while the latest application was considered.

The council spokesperson confirmed the council was still holding the bond while the latest application is considered.