Kāpiti residents want their independent report included on LIMs. Photo: Sean Hamlin, flickr CC by 2.0
A group of Kāpiti residents is taking the local council back to court in a years-long stoush over coastal hazard mapping.
The Coastal Ratepayers Union (CRU) filed a judicial review at the Wellington High Court on Monday, asking for an alternative report, commissioned by the group, to also be included on Land Information Memorandums (LIMs).
Spokesperson Salima Padamsey said the Kāpiti Coast District Council's chief executive was informed the same day and elected officials the next day.
"I'm sorry it came to this, but we've exhausted all our avenues for resolving the issue," she said.
"For us, it's the issue of cost. We pay twice - we raise money within our membership to take this legal action and then council uses our rates against us to take on the legal action from their side."
The issue has been in court several times, beginning since 2012. The council has commissioned two reports - one was later found unfit for planning purposes by an independent panel and another remains accessible on LIMs.
CRU has long contested the science used by the council, which they say uses worst-case scenario estimates against the recommendations of the international governing body for climate change - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Last year, CRU commissioned its own report, written by Willem de Lange, a senior Waikato University science lecturer, who has since retired. The council received the report last October.
Councils are expected to put all relevant information they hold about a property on the LIM to give people the ability to do due diligence before buying.
The de Lange report contradicted areas of the other report - one says kilometres of land could be at risk of inundation along the coast and the other says Kāpiti is safe.
The ratepayers group is concerned false information about flooding and erosion could cause homeowners hardship, and argues both reports should be included on LIMs, so people can make up their own minds about the risks to their properties.
The council confirmed it was aware of the judicial review proceedings and considering its next steps.
"We are not in a position to provide further comment at this stage."
