Tony Pascoe. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
A Taranaki farmer, who has been ordered to pay $180,000 over his objection to the Mt Messenger Bypass route on State Highway 3, says the decision will ruin him.
The Environment Court awarded the costs to the Minister for Land Information after earlier ruling 11 hectares of Tony and Debbie Pascoe's farm required for the project could be purchased under the Public Works Act.
Tony Pascoe said the couple, who farm beef cattle in Mangapēpeke Valley, would be left with no home and no way to make a living.
"How are we going to survive? I've worked hard all my life and then for this to happen is unbelievable. It just shouldn't be happening.
"We are not supposed to be any worse off than when they came banging on our door and the way they've gone about it we are going to be left with absolutely nothing and a huge debt."
In his decision, Judge Brian Dwyer acknowledged the Pascoes "had little or no money" but found that the ministry's claim for 33 percent of its legal costs was reasonable.
The couple, who have been involved in more than a dozen court cases involving the Mt Messenger Bypass, intend to appeal the decision.
The Mt Messenger Bypass Te Ara o Te Ata was aimed at delivering improved safety and a more comfortable drive by avoiding the existing steep and windy route which includes a narrow tunnel. The new route includes two bridges of about 125m and 30m in length and a 235m tunnel.
It was estimated the project - last priced at $280 million - would save motorists between four and six minutes of drive time.
More than 30ha of native forest was being sacrificed for the project but the New Zealand Transport Agency had committed to a massive mitigation programme, including planting thousands of trees and pest control in perpetuity.
"It's devastating really. We are going to be left in dire straits because this is so wrong," Tony Pascoe said.
"All we are being offered is $83,000 for the strip of land. No home, no farm hub, nowhere to live."
The Pascoes farm two blocks of land totalling about 250ha on the northern side of Mt Messenger. The bypass will spilt the farm in half, with 155ha in the Mangapēpeke Valley directly in the path of the new road.
Initially they were offered $600,000 for the Mangapēpeke Valley land and a contribution toward building a new home on a block they owned nearby. The valuation of the entire 250ha was $1.4m, according to the Taranaki Regional Explorer website.
Ngāti Tama exchanged 20ha of Treaty settlement land required for the Mt Messenger bypass project for a 120ha coastal property, a cultural compensation payment of about $7.7m and an environmental programme including pest management in perpetuity on 3650ha of its rohe - costing $750,000 annually.
Judge Dwyer said the Pascoe's objections to the Public Works Act acquisition of the 11ha block - that there was another viable route for the bypass and that the acquisition process had not been carried out - did not stack up. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/535747/taranaki-farmers-ordered-to-pay-court-costs-of-180k-over-roading-buyout
Despite the huge debt hanging over him Tony Pascoe said did not regret opposing the bypass.
"None at all. It's bloody hard. It's bloody hard on a lot of people (on) our team, but they are absolutely brilliant.
"And when I take young people back here and show them the birds and the eels and fish in the creek. The trees and the massive amounts of different vegetation. They are just like 'I wish we had this. This is beautiful'.
"I'm doing this for everybody else, not just for us."
In his decision, Judge Dwyer noted that if the Pascoes did not pay the award it could be enforced in the New Plymouth District Court.
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