Waimairi’s ‘no’ to transfer station

Press, 27 February 1980, Page 1

Waimairi’s ‘no’ to transfer station

The Waimairi County Council has refused permission for a rubbish transfer station to be built on a site in Styx Mill Road.

A special'meeting of the council was held last evening to hear a recommendation by its planning hearings sub-committee that it reject a legal requirement for a public work, served by the Christchurch Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee.

The committee represents the main councils in Christchurch and is responsible for planning the metropolitan rubbish disposal scheme. The northern transfer station would be one of three around Christchurch where rubbish from local collections, and from commercial and private vehicles, would be compacted. From there the rubbish would be transferred to the proposed land-fill disposal area north of Waimairi Beach.

The northern transfer station has been planned for a nine-hectare site in a rural zone on the north side of Styx Mill Road, near Redwood, The Refuse Disposal Committee made the legal requirement for a public work to the Waimairi County Council so that the land could be designated for the purpose. However, the council last evening agreed with its sub-committee’s recommendation that it reject the legal requirement, saying that a transfer station on the site was “not appropriate.”

Public notice that the requirement was to be made was given in July last year. More than 800 objections were received, and 17 submissions were made in support of the, scheme.

The council’s hearings sub-committee of three men received both submissions and objections in a hearing which continued for two weeks.

Members of the subcommittee were Crs I. Calvert (chairman), E. L. Bonisch, and H. M. Tait. Among its findings was a decision that the requirement had not been validly served and was therefore null and void. It considered that if the matter was to proceed further a new requirement would have to be made, this time by one or more of the councils represented on the Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee.

The Waimairi sub-com-mittee considered that the committee had no power of designation and was not entitled to serve a requirement for public work. It quoted the Local Government Act, 1974, and the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, in support of its decision.

A subsequent resolution by the Paparua County Council adopting the Refuse Disposal Committee’s action was not sufficient to give the requirement legal status, the Waimairi subcommittee said.

It was most regrettable that a new requirement would have to be served, as it would be necessary for “full public notification and participation procedures” to begin again. It was to be hoped, however, that should another hearing by the Waimairi County Council be necessary, a way would be found to shorten the length of the proceedings. In spite of its decision, the sub-committee considered the issue on its merits. This was done so that it could “indicate what its recommendation would have been had the requirement been validly served.” The subcommittee found that the site was not appropriate, although it wished it to be recorded that the evidence was not overwhelmingly against the requirement. It considered that in terms of the Town and Country Planning Act the Styx Mill Road site was physically suitable for the proposed use. The sub-committee also considered that the plans for the station would be acceptable, although with several adjustments which it suggested.. Although there might be a slight increase in the amount of traffic risk caused by the station’s presence, this would not be acceptable, either. The sub-committee acknowledged that many objectors had a fear of health risks, but it found that these were not substantiated by the evidence. Possible legal action, Page 6 #