A noisy protest by pupils, parents and supporters of the St Mark’s Catholic School in Pakuranga, Auckland has fallen on at least one set of deaf ears.
An Auckland Council planner, Scott Cheng, is recommending commissioners give the green light to the BP oil company’s request to build next to the school, but with conditions.
“With the appropriate mitigation measures implemented (including the installation of a solid median on Pakuranga Rd along the full road frontage of the site), the proposed service station is unlikely to create more than minor detrimental impact on the safety of the school children,” he says.
A panel of four Auckland Council commissioners will hear the case for a notified discretionary activity resource consent application on June 24-25.
All but one of the 329 submissions are opposed to the station being built.
But BP says the vast majority of submitters should not be allowed to have a say as they were not officially notified of the resource consent proposal.
It’s the third time over 20 years that the school has fought against BP’s attempts to get consent to build a service station at the site.
The Planning Tribunal rejected a proposal in 1992 as did the Environment Court in 1998.
The history of the issue appeared recently in the Howick and Pakuranga Times can be read here.
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