Just One Life Limited v Queenstown Lakes District Council (HC, Invercargill, CP 19/02, 28 March 2003, Panckhurst J)

Notification; delegation of powers

1. A neighbour of Just One Life Limited obtained consents for subdivision, the erection of a dwelling house, and earthworks on a non-notified basis. The consents were processed by Civic Corporation Limited under delegated authority from the Council. The delegation was challenged, as were the decisions in relation to notification.

2. In relation to notification of the subdivision consent application, Just One Life argued that the application provided insufficient information to the decision maker. The Court held that not considering the effects of building platforms separately was an error but not one that was reviewable because the effects were de minimus.

3. In relation to the notification of the residential dwelling and earthworks consent applications, the applications were assessed in error to be non-complying activities and the tests under section 94(2) were applied to reach the conclusion that the effects were minor. However, the Court held that despite the errors, the activities were appropriately assessed with reference to the need for public notification. It was also found that there were no special circumstances sufficient to trigger section 94(5).

4. In passing, the Court noted that many of the arguments raised by the plaintiff related to merits rather than grounds for judicial review and that the resulting amount of evidence was of concern.