952 Lyford Lane – pressure wastewater scheme.
[NOTE This information request still ongoing and this response may be updated in the future]
I refer to your request for information dated 28 May 2026, made under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA).
Your request seeks information to assist residents in understanding the information available to Council in relation to the proposed Lyford Lane pressure wastewater scheme and the proposal to remove funding for the scheme from the 2025/2026 Annual Plan process.
Before responding to the specific questions raised, it may be helpful to provide some context regarding the information held by Council, the searches undertaken to date, and the information that will be supplied as part of this response.
General Information Relevant to this Request
Council holds information relating to the Lyford Lane wastewater proposal in a number of locations, including project files, broader water services records, Council reports, meeting records and email systems.
To assist with this request, Council will provide a copy of the Lyford Lane wastewater folder held within its electronic document and records management system (EDRMS) via WeTransfer due to the size of the files. This folder is expected to contain the majority of information readily identifiable as being directly relevant to the Lyford Lane wastewater proposal.
[NOTE: This file is available on request to LGOIMA@mackenzie.govt.nz]
Council staff have been reviewing the information contained within the Lyford Lane wastewater folder to assess whether any information requires withholding or redaction under the LGOIMA prior to release. This work is nearing completion, and Council expects to provide the information contained within that folder within the next one to two working days.
However, the completeness of this information depends on records having been filed within the relevant folder. It is possible that additional information exists elsewhere within Council’s broader water services records, including information that may not have been considered directly relevant at the time it was created or filed.
Council has undertaken an initial search of water services records using the term “Lyford Lane”. This search identified approximately 4,832 documents containing 23,699 content hits. Those documents would need to be individually reviewed to determine whether they are relevant to this request.
While it is likely that much of the information identified would be suitable for release, Council would be required to review each document and consider whether any information should be withheld or redacted under the LGOIMA, including for reasons of privacy, commercial sensitivity, or other statutory grounds.
Relevant reports, agendas and minutes are also available in the public domain through the Council website at mackenzie.govt.nz > Council > Meetings and Agendas.
Council agendas, reports and minutes from 2024 onwards are fully searchable. For example, searching “Lyford Lane” will identify documents containing that search term. Since earlier meeting records are not as easily searchable, some key references relevant to the Lyford Lane wastewater proposal are provided below:
- Lyford Lane report Council 28 March 2023
- Lyford Lane Minutes Council 27 June 2023
- Lyford Lane report Council 27 June 2023
- Lyford Lane Minutes Council 27 June 2023
Response to specific questions
QUESTION:
a. any investigations, expert reports or other evidential information regarding not proceeding with the proposed Lyford Lane Scheme, including but not limited to, the risks to Twizel Water Supply Catchment and Water Treatment Plant, the impacts if the proposal does not proceed, and the funding of the proposal;
RESPONSE:
Information relevant to this request has been identified within the Lyford Lane wastewater folder that will be supplied via WeTransfer, together with the Council reports, agendas and minutes referenced above.
To the extent that the request seeks information extending beyond the Lyford Lane project itself, including matters relating to the wider Twizel water supply catchment, further searches of Council records would be required. The scope and implications of those searches are discussed in the general information section above.
QUESTION:
b. any investigations, expert reports or other evidential information that consider alternative options for wastewater at Lyford Lane;
RESPONSE:
Council has not identified any additional investigations, expert reports or evidential material relating to alternative wastewater options for Lyford Lane beyond the information contained within the Council reports referred to above.
However, Council cannot conclusively confirm that no additional information exists without undertaking the broader searches described above. It is possible that information held by former staff, or information that was not incorporated into Council reports, may exist within archived folders or email records.
QUESTION:
c. any internal correspondence (including notes from meetings) between council staff, and with elected members, regarding not proceeding with the proposed Lyford Lane Pressure Wastewater system including but not limited to, the risks to Twizel Water Supply Catchment and Water Treatment Plant, the impacts if the proposal does not proceed, the funding of the proposal;
RESPONSE:
Council meeting minutes are publicly available and recordings of Council meetings from 2026 can also be accessed.
The Lyford Lane wastewater proposal was discussed at the Council workshop held on 26 May 2026 (refer LGOIMA request 951). This workshop was open to the public and a recording of the session will be provided. Please note that workshop recordings are made for administrative purposes and are not produced to the same standard as livestreamed Council meetings.
At the time of this response, the workshop minutes have not yet been approved and are therefore not available for release. Once approved by the Chair, they will be provided.
QUESTION:
d. any correspondence between the Council and Environment Canterbury proposed Lyford Lane Scheme, including the risks to Twizel Water Supply Catchment and Water Treatment Plant if the proposal does not proceed; and
RESPONSE
To identify correspondence between Mackenzie District Council and Environment Canterbury relating to this matter, Council would need to undertake searches across multiple email accounts and records systems.
Without a defined timeframe or specific correspondents, such searches are likely to return a very large volume of results. Refining the request by identifying relevant individuals and/or a date range may significantly reduce the scope of the work required.
Any information identified would then need to be reviewed prior to release to determine whether any grounds for withholding information under LGOIMA apply.
QUESTION:
e. any other information, including Council reports, meetings, or internal correspondence, that demonstrates the Council’s decision making process in relation to proposed Lyford Lane Scheme has considered and applied the requirements of the Local Government Act 2002, in particular sections 77 and 78.
RESPONSE:
Information relevant to this request, including Council reports, records of engagement and other material relating to the Lyford Lane proposal, is contained within the Lyford Lane folder that will be provided via WeTransfer.
QUESTION:
The residents also request the following information under the LGOIMA to better understand why the proposed Lyford Lane pressure wastewater system was included in the 2025/2026 Annual Plan in the first place:
Any internal correspondence between Council officers (in particular, Dave Adamson, John Mackie, and Ashley McLachlan) regarding the need for the proposed Lyford Lane pressure wastewater system, including but not limited to, the risks to Twizel Water Supply Catchment and Water Treatment Plant, the impacts if the proposal does not proceed, the funding of the proposal.
RESPONSE:
Council has undertaken an initial email search using the term “Lyford Lane”, which returned approximately 5,403 results.
Those results have not been reviewed for relevance and are likely to include a significant amount of material unrelated to the specific information requested. Any responsive information would need to be identified and then assessed before release to determine whether any grounds for withholding information under LGOIMA apply.
Processing of Remaining Request Information:
For the reasons outlined above we have decided to grant your request in part, namely the Lyford Lane folder held within Council’s electronic document and records management system and information that is publicly available through the Council website.
Council has sought to provide readily available information without charge wherever possible, including information already held within the Lyford Lane project file and information available in the public domain.
While the request was refined following correspondence with Council, the volume of information requiring identification, retrieval, assessment and potential redaction remains substantial. In addition, question 8(a) broadened the scope of records requiring consideration.
Council has already spent considerable time assessing the scale of the request and estimating the work required to respond. Processing the request further would require a significant commitment of staff resources and therefore a charge is proposed in accordance with Council’s LGOIMA charging policy.
The information identified above will be provided without charge. Any further searches, review of records, assessment of relevance, redaction and consideration of any withholding grounds under LGOIMA would be subject to the proposed charge outlined below.
We estimate that the maximum charge will be $25,688. Any unused component of this charge will be refunded to you. For details of how this charge has been calculated refer to the enclosed estimate of costs. Please note that the estimated cost does not include any work associated with correspondence between Mackenzie District Council and Environment Canterbury. As outlined above, the request is currently too broad to accurately estimate the volume of potentially relevant information within this category. Should the request be refined to identify a timeframe and/or specific correspondents, Council will undertake further scoping and provide a separate estimate if required.
Before we proceed further with your request, please confirm your agreement to the charge. Once you have done so, we will arrange for an invoice to be generated, noting that work will not commence until payment has been received.
Refinement of Request
Council has previously offered to work with you to refine the scope of your request and remains willing to do so. In addition, Neil Jorgensen, General Manager Operations, has offered to meet with you to discuss the information you are seeking, explain what information Council holds, and assist in identifying areas of particular interest.
Given the volume of information potentially captured by the current request, Council considers there may be opportunities to significantly reduce the amount of material requiring review. For example, limiting searches to particular time periods, specific correspondents, or agreed email accounts may substantially reduce the number of search results returned. This would assist Council to focus on information most relevant to your concerns and may reduce both the processing time and associated costs.