Big evidence barely fits

16/08/2006 12:00:00 a.m.

EVIDENCE supporting the proposed aquarium on Wellington’s south coast is too big to fit into the Wellington City Council chamber.

An 11-metre, 50:1 scale model of the proposed Marine Education Centre at Te Raekaihau Point, between Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay, was designed by Weta Digital to help the commissioners visualise the Wellington Marine Education Trust’s second resource consent proposal.

The hearing kicked off last week.

The Trust re-applied for consent from the WCC and Greater Wellington Regional Council after the first hearing ended in a stalemate.

"Although it is a disadvantage not knowing what the Trust’s weak points were in the first hearing, a second shot at presenting evidence has its advantages," says Wellington Marine Conservation Trust chairman Stuart Macaskill.

"When you go back and do something twice and re-examine, everything you have done is bound to be a higher quality."

A report was not written explaining why two commissioners voted against the proposal, so the Trust is in the dark as to why there was a stalemate.

"Two previous commissioners must have thought somehow it wasn’t compatible with the location so we have paid more attention to that area of our evidence," Macaskill says.

Weta’s film magic has also been used in the Trust’s proposal with a virtual drive past the proposed aquarium.

In the first hearing Macaskill says the photographic images were not enough.

"The model and video evidence will take away any doubts. One of the big questions left in the minds of the previous set of commissioners was the impact of the building on the natural character of the area. Once the evidence is sitting there in front of you it is hard to argue against it."

Macaskill is confident that the Trust application will be approved.

"I was confident we were going to get consent in the first hearing and now I feel that even more.

"I’m confident there is an 80% support for the project, while a minority of South Coast residents who don’t want to see anything changed are against it. No private views will be affected and I can put my hand on my heart and say I wouldn’t beinvolved in anything that wasn’t focussed on helping the environment."

The hearing will continue to the end of the month.

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