23 Sep 2017

Legal challenge against $500m Wellington development

6:18 pm on 23 September 2017

A group of business people, including film industry figures, is mounting a legal challenge against Wellington City Council's plan to greenlight a $500 million development at Shelly Bay, on Miramar Peninsula.

Shelly Bay, Wellington

Shelly Bay, Wellington Photo: Flickr user side78 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Miramar Business Improvement District or BID is applying for a judicial review of the council's handling of the resource consent for 350 homes by Shelly Bay Ltd, a joint venture between the Port Nicholson Settlement Trust and the Wellington Company.

Its chairman Thomas Wutzler said although his organisation was set up by the council and funded by local businesses through their rates, the council had ignored them.

"We have an agreement to openly share and work collectively together and in relation to Shelly Bay that was definitely not the case."

Mr Wutzler said Miramar BID, which includes representatives from Weta Group, opposed the size and density of the development, the impact on traffic and the cost of infrastructure.

Councillors are expected to sign off this week on the sale and lease of council land to allow the development to proceed.

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