Council to tax wine industry for 'problems'

 

Grapegrowers will be forced to contribute towards projects dealing with fallout from the wine industry – including noisy frost fans, poor worker accommodation and bird scarers

Grapegrowers will be forced to contribute towards projects dealing with fallout from the wine industry – including noisy frost fans, poor worker accommodation and bird scarers – under controversial plans being considered by the Marlborough District Council.

Mayor Alistair Sowman and district councillors will tomorrow consider a draft 2010-11 budget recommendation that grapegrowers pay a targeted rate of $5 per hectare, to be used for projects dealing with problems caused by viticulture.

The $119,600 expected to be raised could be used to replace blades on frost fans considered too noisy, investigate alternative options for scaring birds and look at the impact of fertiliser on ground water quality.

Other projects which could be considered include tree planting and wetland restoration. The fund will not be used for compliance.

Mr Sowman said the council had been forced to consider the move because of reluctance by the wine industry to work with it.

"We've had trouble sitting down with them ... it's out of extreme frustration that we're having to bring in these measures."

However, New Zealand Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith said it was the council that had not been coming to the table.

"A great example of consultation with the council is being invited to discuss an upcoming notification for a plan change on wind machines [frost fans], which we undertook in good faith and which led us to believe we were negotiating with the council because we were told the plan change was not being notified for two weeks ... and then we found out it had already been notified."

Mr Smith said he found the proposed levy "difficult to take seriously".

"It's outrageous on many levels ... like planting trees, the single largest tree felling for a vineyard operation was done by the council itself at Conder's Bend on land they leased to Pernod Ricard."

The industry also had a "wonderful reputation" for restoring wetlands, while there was no need for any work to be done to frost fans if they were legally installed.

New Zealand Winegrowers would be submitting against the plans when they go out to public consultation later this year.

Mr Sowman said it was only fair the industry pay for problems caused by the explosion of viticulture in Marlborough.

"Five dollars a hectare is not a huge sum, but the fact is it gives us some money to deal with problems the general ratepayer has had to foot the bill for."