Settlement reached in judicial review relating to Chatham Islands afforestation consents

An application for judicial review was initiated by Andrew Dunlop, a resident of the Chatham Islands, on 23 January 2025, challenging the validity of decisions made by Chatham Islands Council not to notify and to grant six resource consent applications.

The resource consent applications were for afforestation of land owned by the Hokotehi Moriori Trust and other Chatham Islands landowners. The resource consents authorised the planting of exotic species (including eucalyptuses, cypresses, cedars and redwoods), which were proposed to be interplanted with endemic native trees, to create a permanent mixed carbon forest.

Resource consents were required for the proposed forests as a Restricted Discretionary Activity under the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry) Regulations 2017. This was because the Chatham Islands are undefined in terms of an erosion susceptibility classification.

The judicial review application claimed that Council's discretion in considering the applications had been wrongly limited to erosion and sedimentation effects, whereas a broader range of effects, including effects on the wider ecosystems, bees and honey production, fire risk, and leaching effects on waterbodies and the coastal marine area should have been considered, and that those considerations should have informed Council's decision on whether the applications should have been notified, and whether they should have been granted.

The parties have agreed on a way forward that provides greater clarity for afforestation on the Islands, and which resolves the judicial review application. This includes agreement that the matters of discretion are to be interpreted as set out above.

In reaching this agreement, the parties have agreed that the consents for the properties (or parts of properties) that have not already been planted will be surrendered. Tāmata Hauhā and the landowners will apply for new 'replacement' consents under the same rules but these will be prepared on the basis that the Council will apply a broader discretion to the effects assessment, as set out above.

Tāmata Hauhā will also publicise the way it proposes to undertake afforestation on the Chatham Islands in future on its website.

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