Planning document sparks jobs fears

A Christchurch meat processor's workers had to be reassured about their jobs because of a planning document that "wipes us off the map", the company says.

Silver Fern Farms (SFF), which employs 550 staff at its three Belfast processing plants, said the document wrongly assumed the company would be reducing its presence in the suburb.

The Christchurch City Council's draft Belfast area plan flags where development will happen over the next 30 years.

SFF group environmental manager Daryn Jemmett told a council hearings panel yesterday that the draft plan "wipes us off the map" and sent a message the company was closing.

He said the assumption was inappropriate and provided an "unwarranted expectation" for staff and the public.

The planning document referred to redevelopment of the freezing works site, suggesting it planned to consolidate its operations.

"The assumptions ... are in fact based on a flawed premise of activities diminishing and land use changing," Jemmett said.

Staff, after reading the draft plan, had to be reassured by management that the site would not close.

Industrial land was rare across Christchurch and should not be diminished, he said.

Jemmett said SFF was not consulted during the planning process, leaving the draft document "fundamentally flawed". Council planner Matt Bonis, who helped prepare the draft plan, said any reference to the SFF site was a "grammatical mistake".

Panel chairwoman Cr Sue Wells said the council never intended to suggest the plant would go, and she asked Jemmett to take that statement back to staff. The panel was also told a fast-train network should feature in any blueprint for Belfast.

Christchurch rail enthusiast Christopher Gunn said having no mention of rail in the draft plan and the council's long-term plan was "extraordinary negligence".

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