Council wants second cleanfill application dumped
October 23, 2003

The North Shore City Council is strongly opposed to a new 'cleanfill' facility dumping into the city's ecologically-sensitive Okura estuary.

The council has formally lodged a submission opposing a resource consent application by Bral Holdings Ltd involving 20,000 cubic metres of earthworks and unloading 280,000 cubic metres of 'cleanfill' rubbish on the site at East Coast Rd, Redvale - almost double the amount proposed by a previous application from Resonant Holdings earlier this year. Cleanfill materials include fibrolite, rock, plaster and clay products.

The city's strategy and finance committee is concerned about sediment drained from the cleanfill site into the estuary.

Committee chairperson, Tony Holman, says the council wants to protect this unique, attractive environment.

"The proposed cleanfill could seriously pollute this environmentally-sensitive area which is part of the protected Okura-Long Bay marine reserve and has an important place in our city," he says.

"Increased sediment from the site could be devastating to the water quality of the estuary and nearby marine reserve, and could harm its indigenous plants, fish and animals."

The council employed experts from NIWA, the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, to determine appropriate levels of development in Okura. They found that existing cleanfills in the Okura area contributed 16 per cent of the sediment entering the estuary.

Councillor Holman says that as a result of the NIWA findings the council has put in place strict controls.

"We are limiting the amount of earthworks from subdivisions and have prohibited cleanfills from being developed in North Shore City's part of the Okura area. We hope our northern neighbours, Rodney District, will join us in protecting this environment and take a cautious approach in safeguarding its part of this sensitive catchment."

Granting consent for the Redvale cleanfill could mean that up to three cleanfills could operate in the area at once. Bral Holdings has indicated that the Redvale and Schippers sites would need to be run concurrently for up to two years.

Earlier this year North Shore City opposed reactivating a cleanfill on the corner of Lonely Track and East Coast Rds in Rodney. A hearing originally set for November has been deferred until May 2004.

North Shore City's position of "no more dumps in Okura" is supported by a recent Environment Court decision that safeguards the rural character of the Okura area by severely limiting earthworks.

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