Editorial: Council's credibility takes a knock

OPINION: On November 27 last year, Greater Wellington regional councillor Prue Lamason and Hutt City councillor Ray Wallace assured Wainuiomata residents they had nothing to fear from material being dumped at a local landfill.

Two weeks later, the regional council apologised for misleading the public. Material taken from Lower Hutt's Waiwhetu Stream and dumped at the privately owned landfill contained unsafe levels of lead.

Ms Lamason and Mr Wallace do not appear to be to blame for the misinformation. Not only were they not aware that material dumped at the tip was contaminated, neither were senior council staff. But documents obtained by The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act reveal other council staff were, and not just by the time Ms Lamason and Mr Wallace addressed a public meeting in November.

As early as last September some council staff knew that material dumped at the Waiu St tip contained unacceptably high levels of lead. However, councillors and senior council staff were not advised till late November and it was not till last month that all the contaminated material was trucked to the Silverstream landfill.

The unlawful dumping is a concern for ratepayers throughout the region, not just the Wainuiomata residents who repeatedly raised concerns about dust blowing from the landfill. What is happening within the regional council that the left hand does not know what the right is doing? The various council statements on the matter do nothing to assuage public concern.

On December 7, the public was told lead levels of 400 parts per million, almost twice the permissible limit, had been detected at the tip. Council chief executive David Benham said they breached council "guidelines" but were still "low". By last month the highest level of contamination had risen to 1106 parts per million.

On December 7, the council said 15 truckloads of material would have to be removed from the site. Eventually 80 truckloads were taken away.

On December 7, council staff had been aware of the contamination since October 28. In fact, as the documents obtained by The Dominion Post show, some staff had known since September.

There is no evidence that council management deliberately set out to misled the public. However, the council is guilty of consistently underestimating the scale of the problem and the extent of the cleanup operation required. Surely it would have made sense to point out in December what it subsequently pointed out – that the initial tests conducted with a portable spectrometer were not as accurate as laboratory tests, and that the amount of material taken away would depend on how far the contamination had spread.

The contamination and the mishandling of it have shaken public confidence in the council. It will be some time before the region's ratepayers are again inclined to take at face value assurances given by council staff or councillors.

- © Fairfax NZ News