A WASTEWATER management committee will be established as one of the conditions accompanying the grants of 35-year consents that will allow Gisborne District Council to go ahead with its upgrade of the sewage disposal system.
The decision of the independent commissioners has allowed a raft of consents sought by the council.
They include coastal and discharge-to-air permits that will allow the council to continue using the 1.8km offshore pipeline and designations to build a new wastewater treatment plant at Gisborne Airport.
The councils applications are based on a biological trickling filter (BTF) process and the new treatment plant.
Four councillors and four tangata whenua representatives will comprise the wastewater management committee. Others may be appointed as well.
Also, the council will be responsible for the Turanganui-a-Kiwa quality enhancement project that will aim to improve the mauri (life principle) and water quality of Turanganui-a-Kiwa.
It is committed as well to a number of general and specific reviews of the process and must appoint an independent review panel.
The conditions also cover noise and odour associated with Gisborne Airport.
It has taken more than a year to resolve the consents applications that were lodged by the council.
The initial hearing was adjourned in 2006 for a year after the commissioners were told that there was the prospect of an agreement between the council and submitters that had the potential to meet the cultural concerns of tangata whenua.
It was concluded at a three-day hearing in March, the revised application followed discussions among the wastewater adjournment review group (WARG) that was formed to attempt to reach a solution.
The commissioners have praised the work of WARG and found the BTF process to be the appropriate one for Gisborne.
Some of the coastal permits havee to be forwarded to the Minister of Conservation for final approval.
The appeal period for consents, which were issued on July 4, is 15 working days.
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