Neighbours oppose Waimea gravel plan

A resource consent application to excavate more than 650,000 cubic metres of gravel from a Waimea Plains farm has attracted overwhelming criticism, with residents fearful their environment and lifestyle will be violated.

Contracting company Downer Edi Works has applied to the Tasman District Council for a land use consent to extract the gravel from Eden Farm over 25 years. It is rare for such large consents to be lodged and the application has attracted 51 opposing submissions, many of them scathing.

The farm, which is rural one land, is accessible from the end of Pugh Rd and runs alongside the Waimea River.

The majority of the submissions received by the district council were from neighbouring property owners who are fearful the excavation will lower the ground level and so increase the flood risk, degrade the land and threaten aquifers.

Neighbour Louise Croawell said once gravel was excavated substandard backfill would be used, making the land unproductive.

"People with local knowledge and various contractors are aware that material in this stockpile is often substandard and contains all sorts of crap for example waste ash from coal-burning boilers."

Mrs Croawell organised a public meeting held on July 13 which around 60 local people attended. A show of hands was "overwhelmingly against" the application, she said.

Her past experiences with gravel extraction 10 years ago on an adjoining property impacted greatly on her life, she said. "Compliances were broken regularly. I was in the unenviable role of watchdog."

Chris and Sarah Gray are the site's closest neighbours, surrounded on three sides by Eden Farm. A submission written by the family lists their concerns as dust, noise, road use, flooding risks, the threat to property values and the degradation of rural one soil.

"There are simply no conditions that would make the Eden Farm site the right site for this operation as the impact is of such a broad and significant nature," their submission states.

The couple have four children and purchased the property in 2007 to live the "Kiwi dream" and raise their family in a peaceful country environment.

Eden Farm co-owner Faye Eden referred comment to Downer EDI Works Nelson-Marlborough, whose branch manager Andrew Neville said the company was following "due process" and still considering submissions. He could not comment on the specific issues residents were concerned about.

The company's application states that an average depth of three metres of gravel will be extracted over 20 hectares. It classifies gravel extraction as an "essential public function" and states that a maximum volume of 50,000 cubic metres of gravel will be extracted each year.

Downer EDI Works this year took over the roading maintenance work on Tasman district roads. The company tendered to do the work, split across two contracts, for $8.09 million, while the council estimated it would cost about $12.4 million. The contracts last for at least three years, with a one-plus-one year right of renewal.

Environment and planning committee chairman Michael Higgins said if a hearing for the consent went ahead, it will be overseen by the council's environment and planning subcommittee, not an independent commissioner. The council would not be biased in its decision making, Mr Higgins said. "We deal on a separate basis to the works division."

Council environment and planning manager Dennis Bush-King said similar land-based gravel extraction consents had been lodged in the past and contractors were no longer able to extract gravel from the bed of the Waimea River.

"We are in a gravel deficit area, there's less gravel coming in than going out so if we take too much out, the bed of the river drops."

The Tasman district's regional management plan, out for consultation, states gravel is being lost by a combination of natural events and extraction from the district's main rivers.

- © Fairfax NZ News