Quarry decision nears

BY JANIE SMITH

A decision on the future of the Three Kings Quarry may only be weeks away.

A joint Auckland city and regional council hearing was held across five days to hear Winstone Aggregates' application to fill the quarry with cleanfill and the independent commissioners are expected to finish reviewing the information by November 27.

Three Kings United Group is opposing the application and president Dianne Hill says the five-day hearing was intense with both sides putting forward scientific evidence to support their cases.

Three members of the group, including Mrs Hill, spoke on their submissions.

"One of the issues is the huge number of trucks involved."

She says there are currently 15 to 20 trucks travelling to and from the quarry every day, which will increase with filling.

"They are seeking permission to use up to 750 trucks a day until 10pm, up to seven days a week. It may take a minimum of seven years or it may take up to 20 years."

However, Winstones general manager Bernie Chote says 750 would be the maximum number of trucks used and it would be more likely to be an average of 375 a day.

"To put it in context, there are 19,000 traffic movements a day on Mt Eden Rd. We are talking about 375," he says.

He says the quarry has consent to keep quarrying down to sea level but instead has decided to stop and fill the quarry to help balance community concerns.

The group is also concerned about the cleanfill which will be used to fill the quarry if the consent is granted.

"They would only have to check one bucket in every 150 trucks to see if the fill is clean," says Mrs Hill.

The quarry is on top of a natural aquifer which naturally drained into the Meola and Oakley creeks and the Waitemata Harbour.

Mrs Hill says with dewatering, the flow has been redirected to the Manukau Harbour and the group is concerned that if the cleanfill is contaminated, it will get into the water and end up in the harbour.

"People in this area of Auckland haven't the faintest idea of what's about to be inflicted on them."

Mr Chote says the cleanfill will come from developments around the city and the company currently runs the country's largest cleanfill operation on Puketutu Island.

He says there are significant controls around pre-testing the fill, which is done by environmental scientists, random testing, vehicle inspections and controls in place around when the fill is received and when it is used.

"These are well-established processes we've been meeting and maintaining for many years."

If consent is granted for the quarry to be filled, Winstones' preferred end use for the site will be a mixture of open space, residential and commercial, he says.

Mr Chote is hoping for a decision on the resource consent application before Christmas.

The Three Kings United Group would like to see the Auckland City Council buy the quarry and turn it into a park.

- © Fairfax NZ News