14 April 2010
Waipa District Council’s Policy Committee has recommended that a lease be granted to the Cambridge BMX Club for a new site on the Town Belt.
The club approached Council about relocating its track in 2007. In February 2008, Council offered the club land on the corner of Milton and Lamb Streets.
The club applied for resource consent to establish a track on the new site in July 2008 with the application heard by an independent commissioner. The decision to grant the resource consent was subsequently appealed, mediated and finally settled with an Environment Court consent order in August 2009.
The club then applied to lease the site and the application was publicly notified in February this year. Submissions closed on March 25 with 34 submissions received. Of those, 15 were in favour of the lease being granted and 19 were opposed. Only a small number of submitters asked to be heard at yesterday’s Policy Committee meeting.
At its meeting yesterday, the Policy Committee recommended that some minor changes to the draft lease be made in acknowledgement of concerns raised by objectors.
The Policy Committee’s recommendation to grant a lease to the club will need to be ratified at the full Council meeting in April. If approved, the Minister of Conservation will be asked to endorse the lease (a Reserves Act requirement) prior to the document being signed by both parties.
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