Recycling is "go"

CAROLYN THOMAS

AN industrial recycling plant will go ahead next to lifestyle properties and recreational areas in Kumeu.

Rodney District Council granted a non-notified resource consent to Winstone Aggregates on Friday.

About 15 residents angry at the decision protested outside the Access Rd site on Monday.

Kumeu Huapai Residents Society chairman Chris Welch says the council's process is appalling.

"You've got to ask, `who is council representing'?" he says. "It has been behind closed doors.

"There should be a moral duty for community to at least have a say."

The site had specific zoning for a particle board factory which operated there until last year.

The council's decision not to notify the recycling plant application was based on deciding that the effects of the new operation would be no worse.

It followed assessment by a council officer and review by a senior planner in accordance with the Resource Management Act.

Mr Welch has lived on the road for more than 20 years and questions whether the 1970s zoning is still suitable.

"There has been opposition to this site for 40 years," he says.

Residents' concerns include increased pollution, noise, traffic and dust.

Mr Welch feels other council policies, such as clean-burning fires, show a double standard.

The committee will meet soon, but Mr Welch says a costly legal battle is unlikely. "We'd need to fundraise thousands," he says.

Growth of the recycling operation is also a concern for the group.

Council customer services director Lloyd Barton says commercial and industrial materials such as wood, Gib-board and cardboard will be processed.

"It does not involve any concrete crushing," Mr Barton says.

Existing buildings will be used and the plant will operate seven days a week from 7am to 6pm, with a small amount of traffic expected outside those hours.

Fewer truck movements are expected than from the previous 24-hour operation.

Consent conditions include the retention of a tree buffer. An on-site air quality system will control dust emissions, Mr Barton says.

"The new recycling plant falls within environmental standards set out in the district plan," he says.

Resident and committee member Dawn Kendall worries that a precedent has been set. "I tried to contact the mayor and I was told she could not discuss it as it was nothing to do with her," she says.

"Of course it's her business – she is supposed to be our mayor.

"We don't see the council is making a positive difference."

Another resident, Wendy Kerr, worries dust, traffic and pollution will threaten her nearby vineyard.

"We have no idea how this is going to work," she says.

Mayor Penny Webster says it is great that the plant will create 20 to 30 new jobs. "This is fantastic news for Kumeu and the wider region," she says. "It also involves a New Zealand-owned and operated company employing world-leading technology to recycle building materials in a sustainable way."

Winstone Aggregates plans an on-site open day on March 27.

- © Fairfax NZ News