Sand storm whipped up at quarry hearing

A hearing into an application for a major extension of a Ngahinapouri sand quarry is proceeding, despite an opposing submitter questioning the impartiality of chairwoman Dianne Sharpe.

There was a sensational opening to Lance and Dulcie Coombes' Resource Management Act application to extend their sand-winning operations at Old School Rd and Reid Rd, when neighbour Bill Rottier accused Mrs Sharpe – a longstanding Waipa district councillor – of having "a serious conflict of interest" when the hearing began at the Te Awamutu Rugby Sports Club.

Mr Rottier accused Mrs Sharpe and Mrs Coombes of working together on National Party fundraising activities and said that should disqualify her from presiding on an issue which has divided Ngahinapouri.

"We feel Dianne Sharpe should stand down so fairness can be achieved from the start of the hearing," Mr Rottier said, reading from a prepared statement.

But Mrs Sharpe said she was not a member of the National Party and had never been a member of a committee Mrs Coombes was on.

"That is not what I said," Mr Rottier replied.

Mrs Sharpe continued to defend herself. "When you are a councillor you associate with hundreds of people. But the Coombes have never been in my house and I have never been in theirs.

"I am a professional person and in my own mind there are no conflicts of interest."

The hearing committee, also comprising councillors Graham Jull and Laurie Hoverd and Environment Waikato commissioner Graeme Ridley, briefly withdrew to confer, before Mrs Sharpe confirmed she would continue as chair.

It set the tone for a hearing where there were occasional interjections from a 20-strong gallery of Ngahinapouri residents.

Meanwhile Joan Forret, counsel for the Coombes, said numerous councils recognised the tension between enabling mineral extraction and the potential for "reverse sensitivity" from res-idents.

But problems arose because Waipa District Council did so by managing land use activities and imposing a 500m buffer area around extraction sites, where resource consent was required for construction or alteration of dwellings.

Mr Coombes, a Ngahinapouri resident for 22 years and a sand miner for 30, gave an insight into the state of the Waikato sand industry, complaining that large growth in rural subdivisions meant land for sand mining was being "sterilised".

Mr Coombes named 22 Waikato sites which had closed in the past 20 years and was only aware of one new consent having been granted.

"It is getting very difficult to find sand deposits to mine."

The hearing continues.