Paparua committee opposes fire restriction

Press, 30 July 1985, Page 9

Paparua committee opposes fire restriction

The Paparua County Council’s finance committee yesterday decided not to support a recommended restriction on the burning of yard and outdoor fires. The Canterbury United Council has recommended that in clean air zones the fires are limited to April and September. The County Chairman, Mr J. Y. Pethig, said that practical application of the limit would be too difficult “We would find it too hard to police even if we restricted the fires to properly designed incinerators for all months,” he said. “It would also be difficult for this council to ask urban county residents to comply when only a short distance away, rural county residents could light extensive fires,” Mr Pethig said. In his report, the chief health inspector, Mr I. B. Dawson, outlined two problems with the two-month restriction. If the month was wet then unnecessary burning of

damp refuse could mean a lot of smoke, he said. “Restricting the fires to two months could result in much worse pollution than burning over a longer period.” The committee decided to recommend that the United Council write to the Metropolitan Refuse Committee about possible discount charges for dumping yard refuse. Fees and charges The committee has decided to recommend an increase in the fees and charges for council work. In his report the County Engineer, Mr J. D. Annan, said that the fees and charges had been held at the levels established during the price freeze. “Costs of materials and labour have continued to rise,” he said. “It is therefore necessary for the council to consider whether or not tl> increase the fees and chaifes.”

For the council’s shop refuse collection the committee agreed that the fee charged should reflect the actual cost. About 20 shopkeepers affected could be asked to pay $7 a week instead of 50 cents for this second weekly rubbish collection. For vehicular crossing construction the committee endorsed an increase of $4O a metre for domestic crossings and $B5 a metre for heavy duty crossings. The committee endorsed a doubling of the gateway metal charge. An increase in the fee for. lodging a water race application from $3 to $lO was also approved by the committee. Salmon plant The County Planner, Mr Ken Lawn, has recommended approval of an application to establish a processing plant to smoke and pack salmon. » The Isaac Constriction

Company wants to process salmon from its freshwater fish farm. It also seeks permission to sell its “cottage industry” products from its premises. Mr Lawn said that the company had been raising rainbow trout on a property north of McLeans Island Road, in the hope of the Government introducing legal trout farming. “In late 1983 the Government allowed the farming of salmon in fresh water,” he said. “It has been accepted that the proposed fish farm would fall within the definition of factory farming. “I understand that because of the presence of whirling disease in Waimakariri trout the company is required to process fish on its property. It proposes to sell frozen' vacuum packed smoked salmon.” Mushroom factory The council is still considering prosecution of

Meadow Mushrooms, Ltd, for allegedly contravening the requirements of the Health Act. • A sub-committee of the council has asked the county solicitor, Mr T. M. Abbott, to consider the relevant information and report back. Mr Abbott has indicated that the council has to prove that the smell from the company’s mushroom factory became offensive after it changed its method of composting. The company had reverted to its former composting in large heaps after a machine, that formed small rows of compost, had broken down. Of its own volition the company reverted to the old system of composting, said the subcommittee chairman, Mr Pethig, in his report. “These large heaps became aerobic and produced unacceptable smell levels,” he said. “The chief health inspector, Mr L B. Dawson, contended that the council had a’ good case because the

company had knowingly reverted to a system which it had previously stated in public increased smell levels. “Mr Abbott said the council would have to rely on residents in Prebbleton to testify that the smell had increased, but testimonies would be difficult to obtain because the residents say the factory had always produced an offensive smell,” Mr Pethig said. It was the residents’ intention to have the factory moved away, he said. The finance committee decided to discuss the matter further in committee yesterday. New orchards Mr Lawn recommended in his report that the council approve subdivisions of rural-zoned land for pipfruit orchard units. Canterbury Orchards, Ltd, and Portland Investment, Ltd, lodged the applicattons for subdivisions along -*Selwyn

and Main South roads. The first application is for 13 orchard units of 3.74 ha each, a utility lot and an access lot. The second application is for 11 orchard units of 3.53 ha each, a utility lot, home lot and access lot. Mr Lawn said that a hearing for the applications was considered unnecessary because they were similar to successful applications for orchard units on Halswell and Clark roads. The Planning Tribunal has approved an application by Mr P. J. and Mrs D. C. McManus to build a dwelling on a rural property in Wigram Road with a pigbreeding farm. In December, last year, the council declined the application as well as an earlier application relating to horse breeding and flower growing. Mr and Mrs McManus appealed the second decision to the Planning Tribunal. The tribunal indicated that the council had been

justifiably sceptical of the applicants’ intent at the time of their original application. Since then, the applicants had a better case for the granting of planning consent, the tribunal indicated. Mr Lawn said they had done considerable work on the pig-breeding project. Walkway The council’s walkways committee has recommended the approval of an upper Heathcote River walkway. If endorsed by the council the walkway would be established after the Christchurch City Council finalised its reserve plan for Sunnyside Paddocks, next to Curletts Road. Mr Lawn reported that development of the reserve would probably begin in 2 to 3 years. The committee recommended that Mr Lawn liaise with the City Council and advise adjacent property owners about the jj’or posed walkway. £