Simpson Scott: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Wellington Town Belt Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 16 March 2016. Volume:712;Page:9832. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): As chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee it is a great pleasure for me to rise in the second reading debate on the Wellington Town Belt Bill and report back to the House on the very good and constructive work that I think was done at the select committee. At the outset I would like to place on record my grateful thanks for the cooperation and the collegial approach taken by all members across the committee and for their work on this very special piece of legislation which will effectively modernise the trust deed that was set in place such a long time ago. In fact it was back in 1908 that the first piece of legislation around the Wellington town belt came into force. It needed modernising for a number of reasons. Those trustees who in fact established the Wellington town belt all those years ago had remarkable foresight and wisdom to have created for the good people of Wellington then now and in the future a remarkable piece of green space that is a true treasure for all Wellingtonians and indeed all New Zealanders who have the good fortune to visit Wellington and share in this space.The bill is a local bill and it is being promoted by the Wellington City Council. As the committee worked through our deliberations on the bill we were very cognisant of the fact that the Wellington City Council has put an enormous amount of effort time and energy in getting to where the bill was when presented to the House for its first reading and to the select committee as we worked through that process. I want to also acknowledge the work of the sponsor the local member of Parliament Grant Robertson for his work because he has in fact over a long number of years been very committed to progressing this through the House into its current form. It is somewhat ironic that as someone who has clearly been committed to updating this piece of legislation he found himself in the somewhat unusual situation of having to prepare a minority view report that was attached to the committee’s report. Albeit that that minority view was small and on a pretty small piece of the bill I found that slightly ironic but it was one of the vague quirks of the parliamentary system I guess—that something like that could occur and be allowed to happen.I want to acknowledge also at this stage the very significant and helpful submissions by those people and organisations that took an opportunity to provide both written and oral submissions to the committee. We received in total 31 submissions from interested groups and individuals and we heard from a total of 21. I was struck by the passion by the vigour and by the enthusiasm of those groups which were not all in agreement with each other but which all had a common passion for the Wellington town belt. It became very obvious to me as a non-Wellingtonian very early on in the submission process that in fact the green belt is held in enormously high regard by such a wide cross-section of the Wellington community and people you could not help as a non-Wellingtonian but be impressed by their passion and their enthusiasm for this remarkable space that is a green belt literally within—now—a thriving urban metropolis that is our capital city. Again thinking back to the foresight of those people who created it all that time ago you cannot help but be humbled by that.There were a variety of really interesting submissions. We went through them and gave them all consideration. There were submissions about licences and about land that was subject to Treaty settlement claims. There was concern about the bill’s potential conflict with the Public Works Act and there were a range of other issues that were raised. I would like to think that as a select committee we have gone through and we have been able to address pretty much all those concerns and I think that we have done so in a full and complete way.But Grant Robertson in his address just a few moments ago did make a point that it appears that we have been a little bit remiss in terms of the designation of this 8 hectares in terms of what is available or is going to be available for leases and licence. The intention absolutely is that only 8 hectares be available in total and that it is not a double-up or a double-down on that piece of land—that in fact it is not going to be 8 hectares of lease plus 8 hectares of licence which would be in total 16 hectares. So I think that the member need not worry. I am sure that the Committee of the whole House will find it not beyond its wit or imagination to satisfactorily conclude that matter when it comes to address this piece of legislation.So on that note I am looking forward to hearing further contributions in this second reading debate. I am looking forward to seeing this bill be discussed by the Committee of the whole House and ultimately come to third reading as promptly as is possible so that the good people of Wellington can be assured that the Wellington green belt is in good governance for the next 100 or more years and that as a Parliament we will have updated this long overdue piece of legislation but we will have done it in a way that is meaningful and positive for generations yet to come. I commend the bill to the House.