The Selwyn District Council is vehemently denying accusations it gave the makers of the film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe special permission to destroy “outstanding natural landscapes”. Forest and Bird yesterday accused the council of allowing an area at the Flock Hill station movie set, near Arthurs Pass, to become permanently scarred by the building of a road. The conservation group also queried whether the film-makers met resource consent criteria.
Selwyn council chief executive Paul Davey told The Press he “absolutely denied” any suggestions his organisation had not followed correct procedure or had been a “soft touch” for film-makers. “We aren’t going to do anything for a one-off project like this that would destroy the environment for the future.” Davey said although he did not know the financial benefit from the film for Selwyn district, he suspected it would not be great as crews would probably go to Christchurch for accommodation and supplies.
A Forest and Bird field officer, Tony Lockwood, said the council appeared to be applying environmental double standards in allowing the construction of 5m wide new roads on the Flock Hill site. “The new roads are a significant permanent scar on what is otherwise a magnificent, largely unmodified natural landscape,” Lockwood said. “The scenic qualities of the area are obviously what attracted the film company to the site in the first place, yet the council has allowed those same qualities to be compromised.” He claimed the council allowed the work to proceed without a resource consent until media coverage and lobbying forced it to ask the film-makers to apply for consent. “This was in spite of the construction work clearly breaking rules in the council’s own planning documents requiring a consent to be granted before work can begin.” Forest and Bird said consent had since been granted without public notification.
A spokesman for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ernie Malik, said that as far as he was aware the production company had followed all the rules. He said the main reason the film was being shot in New Zealand was because of the Flock Hill site. “We wanted to make it work there (Flock Hill) and did everything they asked of us,” Malik said.
By KIM THOMAS