Latest news with #WCRC
Scoop
21 hours ago
- Business
- Scoop
Resource Consent Application Lodged For Avery's Stopbank
Press Release – Resilient Westport The work is being carried out by West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) as part of the Resilient Westport package of works. Construction on Averys stopbank is expected to take about four months. Resource consent for the Avery's stopbank has been lodged after a complex planning process. The work is being carried out by West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) as part of the Resilient Westport package of works. It is part of the wider flood mitigation works underway to help protect Westport from severe flooding events. Avery's forms part of the Lower Orowaiti area of flood protection. The 540-metre-long stopbank, largely on Buller District Council road reserve, will be between 1.1 and 1.5 metres high and 15 to 20 metres in width, depending on location. A new main culvert will be installed as part of the work as well as some smaller ones. The stopbank height will be up to 1.7 metres as it travels over the main culvert. West Coast Regional Council Chief Engineer Peter Blackwood says consenting can take about four to six weeks, and for the sake of efficiency, contractors have been invited to tender for the work. 'In preparation for construction, we have been engaging with nearby residents to provide information and gather property data. This section of stopbank will be the first built close to residential properties in Westport. We've been visiting homes in the area to explain the project and collect floor level data to further inform our flood modelling,' says Mr Blackwood. West Coast Regional Council Construction Engineer Jordan Mandery says Rosco Contracting Ltd has been awarded the tender to construct the stopbank and install the culverts, being supplied by Humes. 'Our thanks to all the other contractors and suppliers that submitted tenders. We appreciate time and effort goes into that process. 'In terms of next steps, we anticipate that construction will begin in August or September, subject to consent. While this is slightly later than originally planned, the investigation phase was more involved than expected, particularly around culvert design and alignment,' says Mr Mandery. Some tree removals along Orowaiti Road will be required to accommodate the new stopbank alignment. 'The trees that require removing are mostly pōhutukawa and unfortunately, they need to make way for the new stopbank. Whilst this is a necessary part of providing flood protection for Westport, we appreciate this process can be upsetting for some residents. 'The tree removal work is scheduled for late July or August and will be carried out as sensitively as possible. Removed trees will be chipped and transported off-site for composting via the Buller District Council's green waste programme at the Westport Transfer Station, ensuring sustainable disposal and avoiding landfill,' says Mr Mandery. Additionally, a Queen Elizabeth II commemorative magnolia tree currently located on the embankment will be carefully relocated to Victoria Square. When construction gets underway, it is expected to involve temporary road closures on Orowaiti Road to allow for safe installation of the culvert and construction of the stopbank. Traffic management plans will be in place and communicated in advance to minimise disruption. Construction on Avery's stopbank is expected to take about four months.
Scoop
a day ago
- Business
- Scoop
Resource Consent Application Lodged For Avery's Stopbank
Resource consent for the Avery's stopbank has been lodged after a complex planning process. The work is being carried out by West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) as part of the Resilient Westport package of works. It is part of the wider flood mitigation works underway to help protect Westport from severe flooding events. Avery's forms part of the Lower Orowaiti area of flood protection. The 540-metre-long stopbank, largely on Buller District Council road reserve, will be between 1.1 and 1.5 metres high and 15 to 20 metres in width, depending on location. A new main culvert will be installed as part of the work as well as some smaller ones. The stopbank height will be up to 1.7 metres as it travels over the main culvert. West Coast Regional Council Chief Engineer Peter Blackwood says consenting can take about four to six weeks, and for the sake of efficiency, contractors have been invited to tender for the work. 'In preparation for construction, we have been engaging with nearby residents to provide information and gather property data. This section of stopbank will be the first built close to residential properties in Westport. We've been visiting homes in the area to explain the project and collect floor level data to further inform our flood modelling,' says Mr Blackwood. West Coast Regional Council Construction Engineer Jordan Mandery says Rosco Contracting Ltd has been awarded the tender to construct the stopbank and install the culverts, being supplied by Humes. 'Our thanks to all the other contractors and suppliers that submitted tenders. We appreciate time and effort goes into that process. 'In terms of next steps, we anticipate that construction will begin in August or September, subject to consent. While this is slightly later than originally planned, the investigation phase was more involved than expected, particularly around culvert design and alignment,' says Mr Mandery. Some tree removals along Orowaiti Road will be required to accommodate the new stopbank alignment. 'The trees that require removing are mostly pōhutukawa and unfortunately, they need to make way for the new stopbank. Whilst this is a necessary part of providing flood protection for Westport, we appreciate this process can be upsetting for some residents. 'The tree removal work is scheduled for late July or August and will be carried out as sensitively as possible. Removed trees will be chipped and transported off-site for composting via the Buller District Council's green waste programme at the Westport Transfer Station, ensuring sustainable disposal and avoiding landfill,' says Mr Mandery. Additionally, a Queen Elizabeth II commemorative magnolia tree currently located on the embankment will be carefully relocated to Victoria Square. When construction gets underway, it is expected to involve temporary road closures on Orowaiti Road to allow for safe installation of the culvert and construction of the stopbank. Traffic management plans will be in place and communicated in advance to minimise disruption. Construction on Avery's stopbank is expected to take about four months.
Scoop
22-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive Calls For More Staff As Goldmine Delays Bite
Article – Lois Williams – Local Democracy Reporter The West Coast Regional Council has conceded it needs to take on more staff, after a raft of complaints about the time it takes to process resource consents, including some from its own councillors. The council's former chair – and alluvial goldminer – Allan Birchfield released letters last week from a company distressed that its fledgling goldmine had been shut down, and its seven workers and capital put at risk, after waiting 17 months for a consent. Council resource management committee chair Brett Cummings – also a veteran goldminer – has set out his concerns in a letter to West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) chief executive Darryl Lew, with a long list of questions about how consents are being dealt with. Both councillors have criticised the council's practice of hiring North Island consultancy firms to process goldmine consents, alleging the planners involved are unfamiliar with the industry, ask for irrelevant information and delay the process by asking what Cummings has called 'stupid ' questions. In his case, the wait has been seven months for what should have been a straightforward consent on Ngai Tahu forestry land, which the iwi had approved, Cummings said. In reply to the councillor's questions, Lew said the council had received 56 resource consent applications this year, and half of them had been outsourced to consultants in Buller, Greymouth and New Plymouth. Of those 28, two had been approved, 11 were sent back to the applicants because they were 'incomplete' and the rest were still being processed, Lew said. 'Similar to the WOF process for a car, when deficient applications are returned, applicants are informed of areas that are required to be enhanced and they can then resubmit the applications for processing.' Of the remaining 28 being dealt with by council staff, 10 had been approved, one had been sent back for more information within the statutory time limit and 12 had been returned to sender as 'incomplete'. The rest were still being processed, Lew said. The council's use of consultants has increased, compared to the same period last year, the figures show. Between January and April 2024 , the council received 57 resource consent applications – one was publicly notified, 51 were processed in house and only six outsourced to a consultant. There was little difference in the fees charged to applicants – council staff were charged out at $185 an hour and consultants' hourly rates ranged from $140-192 – all plus GST. There had been only two council consents staff employed in January this year, joined by a trainee in February, and their availability had been reduced by sick leave, annual leave and training time, Lew said. Last year, there had been three officers on the job. 'To date, I haven't increased the consents team, however I do believe now is the time. More consents are requiring technical input and we are having more going to hearings, so this is impacting on resourcing, not to mention future demands like the fast track projects.' The council would prefer to use its own staff who had local knowledge, Lew said. But it would be impossible to do away entirely with consultants because the volume of consent applications and workload was unpredictable. Consents for alluvial goldmining were much more complex than they were in the early days of the RMA in the 1990s, the chief executive noted. They now had to be assessed against a lengthy list of national policy statements and environmental standards, including Freshwater Management, Indigenous Biodiversity, drinking water, air quality, greenhouse gases, and management of contaminants in soil to protect human health. 'We await the government changes to these national instruments and the replacement RMA to see if this becomes simpler … I agree it would be ideal to have consents and application forms as simple as possible. It is a challenge to have them reflect the law and remain simple.' In the meantime, the WCRC consents team was working on new application templates and more guidance for alluvial goldminers, and would bring a paper on this to Council on July or August, Lew said. The council had complicated the process by trying to impose static conditions intended for subdivisions and septic tanks on alluvial mines, Cummings said. 'An alluvial site evolves as you work your way through it, so you'll start off with your pumps and your pond, and even your access tracks in one place, and as you move along, you move them along as well, but they're demanding maps and trying to include these all things as fixed conditions on the consent. ' Until about a year ago, those details were set out for the council in a separate mine work-programme, which was updated, as the site progressed, Cummings said. 'The compliance staff would have that and refer to it, when they did their inspection visits. They didn't try to cram everything into the consent itself – that makes no sense, when you're dealing with a dynamic system. 'If you move your pond, you're technically in breach.' Hiring more consents staff could help the situation, as long as basic issues were addressed, Cummings said.
Scoop
22-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive Calls For More Staff As Goldmine Delays Bite
The West Coast Regional Council has conceded it needs to take on more staff, after a raft of complaints about the time it takes to process resource consents, including some from its own councillors. The council's former chair - and alluvial goldminer - Allan Birchfield released letters last week from a company distressed that its fledgling goldmine had been shut down, and its seven workers and capital put at risk, after waiting 17 months for a consent. Council resource management committee chair Brett Cummings - also a veteran goldminer - has set out his concerns in a letter to West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) chief executive Darryl Lew, with a long list of questions about how consents are being dealt with. Both councillors have criticised the council's practice of hiring North Island consultancy firms to process goldmine consents, alleging the planners involved are unfamiliar with the industry, ask for irrelevant information and delay the process by asking what Cummings has called "stupid " questions. In his case, the wait has been seven months for what should have been a straightforward consent on Ngai Tahu forestry land, which the iwi had approved, Cummings said. In reply to the councillor's questions, Lew said the council had received 56 resource consent applications this year, and half of them had been outsourced to consultants in Buller, Greymouth and New Plymouth. Of those 28, two had been approved, 11 were sent back to the applicants because they were "incomplete" and the rest were still being processed, Lew said. "Similar to the WOF process for a car, when deficient applications are returned, applicants are informed of areas that are required to be enhanced and they can then resubmit the applications for processing." Of the remaining 28 being dealt with by council staff, 10 had been approved, one had been sent back for more information within the statutory time limit and 12 had been returned to sender as "incomplete". The rest were still being processed, Lew said. The council's use of consultants has increased, compared to the same period last year, the figures show. Between January and April 2024 , the council received 57 resource consent applications - one was publicly notified, 51 were processed in house and only six outsourced to a consultant. There was little difference in the fees charged to applicants - council staff were charged out at $185 an hour and consultants' hourly rates ranged from $140-192 - all plus GST. There had been only two council consents staff employed in January this year, joined by a trainee in February, and their availability had been reduced by sick leave, annual leave and training time, Lew said. Last year, there had been three officers on the job. "To date, I haven't increased the consents team, however I do believe now is the time. More consents are requiring technical input and we are having more going to hearings, so this is impacting on resourcing, not to mention future demands like the fast track projects." The council would prefer to use its own staff who had local knowledge, Lew said. But it would be impossible to do away entirely with consultants because the volume of consent applications and workload was unpredictable. Consents for alluvial goldmining were much more complex than they were in the early days of the RMA in the 1990s, the chief executive noted. They now had to be assessed against a lengthy list of national policy statements and environmental standards, including Freshwater Management, Indigenous Biodiversity, drinking water, air quality, greenhouse gases, and management of contaminants in soil to protect human health. "We await the government changes to these national instruments and the replacement RMA to see if this becomes simpler ... I agree it would be ideal to have consents and application forms as simple as possible. It is a challenge to have them reflect the law and remain simple." In the meantime, the WCRC consents team was working on new application templates and more guidance for alluvial goldminers, and would bring a paper on this to Council on July or August, Lew said. The council had complicated the process by trying to impose static conditions intended for subdivisions and septic tanks on alluvial mines, Cummings said. "An alluvial site evolves as you work your way through it, so you'll start off with your pumps and your pond, and even your access tracks in one place, and as you move along, you move them along as well, but they're demanding maps and trying to include these all things as fixed conditions on the consent. " Until about a year ago, those details were set out for the council in a separate mine work-programme, which was updated, as the site progressed, Cummings said. "The compliance staff would have that and refer to it, when they did their inspection visits. They didn't try to cram everything into the consent itself - that makes no sense, when you're dealing with a dynamic system. "If you move your pond, you're technically in breach." Hiring more consents staff could help the situation, as long as basic issues were addressed, Cummings said.
RNZ News
30-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
'It stinks' - Weary Grey District locals gear up for another round in dump fight
Mayor Tania Gibson, with Adrian van Dorp, is worried about the district's water supply. Photo: LDR/Lois Williams The Grey District Council will need to spend at least $60,000 to make its case against the latest resource consent application by the Taylorville Resource Park . Mayor Tania Gibson says the council will not give up the fight against what it sees as a future threat to its $20-million water supply from the private landfill. TRP Ltd has applied to the Regional Council for consent to discharge contaminated water - a mix of stormwater and landfill leachate - from a retention pond to land, and groundwater outside the dump site. The discharge site sits above a water supply intake, which supplies drinking water to Greymouth. The application is being processed on a limited notification basis, and only the GDC, Te Runanga o NgatiWaewae and two neighbours of the landfill are considered affected parties with the right to formally oppose or support it. One of those neighbours is WCRC chair, Peter Haddock. "Tonkin and Taylor have given us an estimate for the work the council will have to do for our submission, and we'll need to present at the hearing , then our lawyers are involved, that's why we've said $60,000 and it could be more." That was a cost to the community that ratepayers could ill-afford, Gibson said. "No-one's coming to save us but ourselves. But it's just diabolical to have to fight this when we don't want them discharging to water and land above our water treatment plant. " The mayor met with Taylorville residents on Tuesday, to tell them what the council was planning to do, she said. "They are pretty devastated and upset. But we have to fight this with facts, not emotion. We are going to go in with as much specific technical information as we can and we will need to engage someone with that knowledge. " The GDC's independent water testing had shown contaminant levels rising in the road drains and groundwater near the dump, Gibson said. TRP Ltd is about to apply for a more comprehensive resource consent , for a Class 2 landfill, which would allow it to expand and take a wider range of waste materials as of right and has asked for that application to be publicly notified. It had applied for the current consent as an interim measure last September but the council was only now getting around to processing it, a company spokesperson said. For residents living near the dump, the prospect of fighting the major Class 2 consent is daunting. Adrian and Christine Van Dorp, who can see the operation from a bank on their lifestyle block, are considered affected parties. "We've been sent three hundred pages of stuff to wade through to make a submission and I can't see how we're going to stop this, but we can at least try to stop them expanding." The application states that any effects on groundwater will be less than minor and it would be impossible for contaminants to find their way into the Grey River. But the Van Dorps say it's beyond belief that the dump was ever consented in the first place. Adrian Van Dorp neighbours the Taylorville Resource Park, a private landfill, which has applied to the regional council for consent to discharge contaminated water. Photo: LDR When former Regional Council Andrew Robb subdivided his adjoining farmland five years ago, neighbours were given no warning that the land would become a landfill, Adrian Van Dorp said. The current Regional Council chair, Peter Haddock also owns undeveloped land next to the landfill and is considered an affected party. "We're all interested to see what he submits," Adrian Van Dorp said. "There are 28 of us living around here and the damn thing is a blight on the neighbourhood. It's affected property values and it literally stinks. "When the winds blowing one way we get it - and the smell makes you feel sick. When it blows the other way our neighbours across the terrace get it. " Haddock was asked for his views and told LDR the submission period on the short-term consent had been extended and he was considering the available information. The company in its application submits that any discharges would have less than minor effects on waterways. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
