Tony and Debbie Pascoe, owners of a Taranaki farm, face compulsory acquisition of 11 hectares for the Mt Messenger bypass, with an additional 13 hectares leased for construction.
Despite financial hardship and losing their home, Tony Pascoe stands by his fight against the project, citing the preservation of the Mangapēpeke Valley as a motivating factor.
The Environment Court ruled in favour of NZTA, dismissing alternative route considerations and allegations of bad faith negotiations.
The bypass aims to ‘improve safety and travel time’ on State Highway 3, despite significant ecological impacts.
‘It’s huge because indirectly it’s going to take the whole Mangapēpeke Valley out, because you are not going to be able to get into the valley and do all the things we do in the valley – take our kai out of here – and it’s just going to completely destroy this valley,’ Mr. Pascoe told state media.
NZTA were awarded costs, but he did not know what the total would come to at this stage.
‘A lot more than we wanted to and there’s a whole lot more coming by the sounds of it, so it scares the shit out of me to be honest, to be able to add it all up and think about how we are going to get through it.
‘To fight this was for the right reasons. I know it’s for the right reasons, but they cripple you with costs.’
New Zealand may have a court and legal system, but no justice system.
There should be no charges$$ for challenging any government as THEY have unlimited resources and can/will squash an individual.
Unreal. This is a disgusting precedent. What will stop the government from taking anyone’s land for any spurious reason? Another reason to leave this sh1thole of a country.
Where would you go ????
Strike Australia off your list. I was in Queensland when they did a referendum for “who wants to drink your own urine”. Surprisingly the vast majority voted NO. But it did not factor in the decision making. And Melbourne had the longest lockdowns.
Strike off Canada, they are all too eager to shut down your bank accounts, and kill you, sorry offer you assisted suicide for just about any reason……………….
what a load of s***! corrupt nzta what a joke! these people were treated like shit and now the court is charging them for costs as well – so nzta do not have to pay for the land is that correct? reminds me of the way land were stolen by the colonists, it never ends all to make the fat cat fatter and our taxes greater
After the ANZAC war the Americans stationed in NZ offered to build a tunnel through Mt Messenger for free for theirbrave role in the AZAC war.
NZ stupidly declined.