New abattoir planned for Hilltop

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 3

New abattoir planned for Hilltop

Banks Peninsula Meats, Ltd, plans to build a small abattoir near Hilltop, on the main road to Akaroa.

At present the company, which is a co-operative of about 100 shareholders, consisted mainly of farmers in the eastern part of Banks Peninsula, runs a small abattoir at Takamatua Bay, near Akaroa.

The abattoir cannot be improved to comply with Ministry of Agriculture regulations and arrangements must be made to find an alternative site.

The abattoir supplies local butcheries and provides a means of processing local stock as an alternative to carting stock to Christchurch for slaughter.

The chairman of Banks Peninsula Meats, Mr V. S. Shadbolt, said yesterday that the company has been investigating possible sites for a new factory for some time but had had difficulty finding a suitable site which would meet access, watersupply, and environmental

criteria. Banks Peninsula Meats applied for planning permission to build a small abattoir at Takamatua last year but withdrew the application in the face of more than 200 objections to the scheme.

The proposal aroused considerable controversy at Takamatua. A total of 244 objections were received against the abattoir. A petition bearing 411 signatures supported the scheme. Opponents were worried that the proposed abattoir would harm the view, bring noise and smell, and make the ground unstable with its disposal of treated waste water. They also believed that some of the treated waste water would 'enter the sea and they were sceptical of the company’s proposal to avert the problem. Mr Shadbolt said that the new project was being planned with a strong emphasis on environmental protection. The building would be screened by suit-

able planting and would be built in modern durable materials and coloured to blend with the landscape.

The processing facility would kill 250 sheep and 50 cattle a week. It would employ a staff of four.

Particular attention was being paid to. effluent and waste disposal to ensure that there was no effect on adjoining land, Mr Shadbolt said.

Inedible by-products would be transported to Christchurch for further processing while a bio-gas plant would be used to reduce other waste to a form suitable for irrigation as a fertiliser on to parts of the site for cropping. The bio-gas would be used to supplement the hot-water supply for the plant. Planning permission will be sought from the Wairewa County Council and the necessary water rights for water supply and effluent disposal will be applied for from the North Canterbury Catchment Board.