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  1. Vegetation clearance will be limited to the minimum area required to build the structures plus the vehicle parking.

  1. Visual impacts will be apparent only to those persons travelling to the site by the access road or to the few persons currently walking up the valley from the road end. This can be ascertained from the overgrown nature of the walking track on both sides of the Parapara River downstream. There is currently no point where it is possible to gain easy access and look down on this location. Attention to colour and texture on the building sides will provide some mitigation. Concrete work in the bed of the river will rapidly gain an algal and moss cover matching that on the river bed boulders.

  1. Noise levels outside the building will be designed to be less than the ambient levels from the Parapara River at a distance of 100 metres from the building. The nearest residents are 300 metres distant around two bends in the river.

  1. Ensuring bank stability may involve the grouting by concrete of boulders into position and the repositioning of other larger stones. The additional material will be available from the excavation of the spillway and thus be indistinguishable from those currently exposed. No quarried or broken face stone will be used.

Conclusion

This proposal involves the restoration of a significant part of Golden Bay history to a sustainable and effective use which will add to the development of self reliance in power generation.

The land over which this proposal envisages development has been significantly altered by past industrial activities and is not unique in its setting within the Aorere Goldfields. No unique or endangered species are identified as being significantly impacted by this proposal.

Enhanced access as a result of the re-opening of mainly existing roads and tracks will improve the opportunity for the public to participate in this industrial history and other recreational opportunities including hunting, hiking and mountain biking.

With attention to avoiding disturbing historical remains which do not form part of this proposal, no significant long term negative environmental impacts are predicted.

References

The Geology of the Parapara Subdivision. Bell et al 1906
Topographic Map 260-M25 Collingwood LINZ 2002
Geological Map of Nelson. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences 1998

Acknowledgments

The assistance of Nigel Mountfort of DOC Takaka for historical information and field work, Steve Bagley of DOC Nelson for historical information, Grace Winnington and Jesse Lamb for field work and those who have provided expert reports, Katharine Watson, Neil Deans of Fish and Game, Tony Hewitt and Corina Kemp of Envirolink and Phillip Simpson for information of a detailed nature imparted during field visits.

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