Waimairi move against refuse station lost

Press, 13 March 1985, Page 8

Waimairi move against refuse station lost

Efforts to have the Waimairi District Council withdraw from the northern refuse transfer station scheme were overwhelmingly defeated last evening.

The newest member and a Papanui Riding representative, Cr Des King, wanted the finance and policy committee to recommend that the Christchurch Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee be given one year’s notice of withdrawal. His main concern was the “financial monstrosity” the proposed third station would present. For the 10 months to the end of January, total running costs had been almost 25 per cent above that allocated in the budget while revenue for the same period was down more than 17.5 per cent. Continuation of the scheme would only spread the same volume of increased losses among the three stations, Cr King said. He predicted the loss over 10 years to be more than $1.3 million. Costs could be cut if money was spent extending the two existing transfer

stations. “Maintenance costs on the two stations could possibly be higher but it would be nowhere near the costs of having to go ahead with a new station and front up with these annual losses,” he said.

“If we go ahead with extending the two stations we could jolly near make a profit,” he said. Cr John Hanafin questioned the viability of withdrawing from the Refuse Disposal Committee. Such a

step would be self-defeating, giving the council no say in any decisions concerning the scheme. “Not only would we lose all say in the whole scheme but we would still have to pay levies to the Metropolitan Refuse Committee. It just defeats what the mover (Cr King) is trying to achieve,” he said.

After debate for more than an hour, Cr King’s motion was opposed by all other councillors at the meeting.