Canterbury Mornings

Environment Canterbury insists it isn't going easy on the developer of a mega dairy farm in the Mackenzie Country.The regional council is allowing a portion of the land at Simon's Pass near Twizel to be irrigated - despite the farm not yet meeting all of its conditions under its consent.The move has infuriated Greenpeace which has accused ECAN of bending the rules so that dairy corporates can make money at the cost of fragile landscapes.But ECAN Chairman Steve Lowndes told Chris Lynch the council is satisfied the farm has done enough for now - meeting all but one of 99 onerous conditions set down by the Environment Court two years agoIt says the outstanding condition - which relates to a survey to protect the Dryland Recovery Area - should be met by the end of summer.