Coastal dump site rejected

Press, 29 October 1981, Page 1

Coastal dump site rejected

Waimairi residents have won their fight to have the proposed Waimairi coastal site rejected as an area for landfill. About 40 local residents loudly applauded the Waimairi County Council's decision, made at a meeting last evening, to accept the landfill hearing's recommendation to reject the site. The hearing committee, which comprised Councillors H. M. Tait. F. S. Blogg. and R. W. Skjellerup. decided that the proposed site did not even meet the criteria for selection as set out by the Christchurch Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee. The whole basis of the proposed scheme was not well founded, nor did it satisfy the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, said the committee's recommendation.

The proposed height of the refuse mounds. possible leachate pollution, wind erosion, and the failure of the area to revegetate were all cause for concern, the committee said. The committee was also dissatisfied with the pro-

posed landscaping of the site, which it felt was definitely not “in keeping with the natural character of the coastal environment."

The proposed Bower Avenue access route and the study of alternative sites also came in for some heavy criticism.

The consultant planner and registered engineer for the Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee, Mr Malcolm Douglass, presented evidence on alternative sites which the committee described as "brief and cursory.” In its summary, the committee said: “A unique recreational asset could be modified so greatly that its uniqueness is destroyed.” “The committee’s decision is a major victory for John Citizen of metropolitan Christchurch, the environmentalist, and against what seems insurmountable odds of two years ago,” Cr A. A. Adcock told the meeting. The other councils represented on the Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee will now be given the chance to accept or reject the decision.