Peter Foster correspondence to/from John Peters October 2010

Response to Peter Foster from John Peters
7 October 2010

(see Peter Foster's letter from 2 October below)

Dear Peter

Thank you for your inquiry regarding under whose corporate name or authority approvals, agreements, resource consents and funding are being sought and who is paying for the approvals and resource consents.

You are correct that the trust has not yet been registered and IMG has no legal status. However the Interim Management Group is keen to ensure the momentum of the project is retained and so has been continuing to make progress on a number of fronts, without making any significant financial commitments or final decisions. I can report:

Approvals: A number of approvals are required from government sources, including for the potential transfer of ownership of assets relating to the community hospital and questions as to what potential Treaty of Waitangi status these assets may have. These are being worked through with the Ministry of Health and other agencies.

Finance and funding: Initial inquiries have been made to potential funders and financiers on behalf of the project, some of which have been quite promising. We are currently exploring a range of ways of structuring the financial arrangements, based on the business case of the project. Again no commitments have been made.

Resource consents: While the project plans are by no means finalised, the IMG has decided the project is sufficiently advanced to apply for resource consent. The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board has agreed to pay for the costs of an application, on the expectation it will be for a non-notified consent, which is far less costly and complex.

I realise it may appear some of these decisions are taking some time to achieve but there are interlinking issues that mean they are not straight forward and need to be carefully thought through.

No decisions or commitments can be entered into until the appropriate legal structures are in place but because this can't happen immediately, we are working to progress things as much as we can

You can rest assured the IMG is determined to keep the community fully informed, and will continue to provide updates whenever we have tangible information to share.

John Peters.

Letter from Peter Foster - 2 October 2010

Dear IMG,

I see urgent need for public clarifications of your proceedings.

The situation is:

There is a report of IMG proceeding with the integration project and seeking approvals etc. (GB Weekly, page 1, 1 October)
The GB Weekly report includes: "The group's planning focus over recent months has been gaining various legal approvals and agreements and finance and funding sources."

But as I see the situation:
The GBCH Trust has not been registered.
IMG has no corporate existence.

So:
Under whose corporate name/authority are approvals, agreements, resource consents and funding being sought?
Who is paying for approvals and resource consents?

These questions need urgent, and public, clarification, to ensure integration is transparent and soundly based.

Peter