Auckland's proposed Dome Valley landfill site to have rāhui imposed

Monday, 10 June 2019

Local opposition is growing to Waste Management's proposed landfill in the Dome Valley, north Auckland. (Video first published in July 2020)

A rahui will be placed over the site of a proposed landfill in a community attempt to halt its development.

Opponents of the Dome Valley landfill – which would be 70km north of Auckland and owned by Waste Management – unanimously voted for the rahui on Sunday, said Māori liaison for the Fight the Tip Committee Mikaera Miru.

More than 200 Kaipara community members attended a hui at Wellsford Community Hall, including Kaipara Mayor Jason Smith.

Dome Valley locals have errected signs expressing their opposition to the proposed Auckland Regional Landfill.

Miru said it was 'great how Māori and Pakeha came together, with Pakeha breathing life into a customary Māori practice like this'.

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Mikaera Miru, a local kaumatua, is pleased the Kaipara community got behind a rāhui over the proposed dump's site.

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The proposed site for the landfill is in a secluded valley between Warkworth and Wellsford

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'None of us want to be picking up rubbish like the Fox Glacier community, when we can prevent it being strewn about in the first place,' he added.

Miru was referring to an incident earlier this year, when wild weather in Westland spread rubbish and toxins from a decommissioned dump beside the Fox River over the region's pristine beaches.

It will be will Auckland Council and Waste Management's call as to whether they acknowledge the rāhui.

A rāhui is a requested ban on activity, for a specific purpose. In the Dome Valley case, the aim is to protect waterways from being poisoned by waste from the landfill.

The landfill's proposed site is currently commercial pine forest and farmland; a high rainfall area with many tributaries leading to the Hoteo River, which empties into the Kaipara Harbour.

Locals have been outspoken about their concerns for the environment and over ramped-up traffic the landfill would bring to the already-notoriously deadly stretch of SH1.

Waste Management purchased the land in 2018 and have lodged a resource consent application with Auckland Council. The Chinese-owned company promises its new dump will be both environmentally sound and necessary for a growing Auckland.

If the council grants Waste Management go-ahead, the so-called Auckland Regional Landfill would take over from the Redvale Landfill – expected to shut in about eight years' time – and operate on a 35 year resource consent.

The rāhui would be officially imposed on June 15 with a traditional blessing near the landfill's proposed site, said Miru.

'It's possible the council will ignore us, but by hook or by crook we will oppose this development,' he said.