Company linked to ex West Coast council chair investigated for consent breach

Friday, 26 March 2021

A cleanfill site near Greymouth where non-complying material was found from the demolition of the old Grey Base Hospital.

A company linked to West Coast farmer and former regional council chairman Andrew Robb has been investigated for breaching resource consent conditions for a demolition waste dump.

Landowner Sewell Peak Farm Ltd was issued an abatement notice after non-clean fill material including metal, plastic and timber from the demolition of historic Greymouth hotel Revingtons was found in the 2 hectare Taylorville Rd dump site by West Coast Regional Council compliance officers in October.

“Deposition of non-clean fill materials can leach and have an impact on water quality,” the abatement notice said.

However, the council was forced to intervene again in March, when contaminated waste from the demolition of the old Grey Base Hospital was found on site.

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Andrew and Ian Robb and Waikato farmer Andrew MacPherson are directors of Sewell Peak Farm. Andrew Robb is the company’s majority shareholder and lives next to the cleanfill site. He declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Ministry for the Environment said the ministry and Minister David Parker had received a complaint about the site.

“The Minister for the Environment has asked officials to look into this matter, and a response will be provided directly to the complainant,” the spokesman said.

Andrew Robb is majority shareholder of the company that owns the land and lives next to the cleanfill site.

West Coast Regional Council compliance team leader Colin Helem said the council was working with the consent holder to remove non-clean fill materials from the site.

The council had received several complaints from a person in March about contaminated material from the old Grey Base Hospital being dumped. However, the council decided not to issue another abatement notice.

“Although unconsented materials such as metals have been found on site during the inspections when responding to the complaints the contractor on site had been actively removing the materials from the dump face and stockpiling for removal to an authorised site,” he said.

The contractor was asked to provide receipts for the disposal of materials at an authorised site.

Metal, plastic and timber from the demolition of historic Greymouth hotel Revingtons was found in the 2 hectare Taylorville Rd dump site.

”Some of this waste also relates to unauthorised dumping by other parties without the consent holder’s permission.”

The council was continuing to monitor the site to ensure compliance.

Adjacent landowners Mat McNutt and Ally Sardelich complained to the council that they were disappointed it had not issued an abatement notice following the March visit, and had not ordered the contractor and consent holder to dig up the non-clean fill material already covered with soil.

They saw trucks begin dumping material from the old Grey Base Hospital on March 1 and by March 6 the pit had been covered with soil.

McNutt had taken photos of reinforcing protruding from cement, knots of reinforcing, copper pipes, a stainless steel sink, aluminium window frames, carpet, plastic and MDF board.

“All these materials are unacceptable in the [Ministry for the Environment’s] clean fill guide and cannot be placed in the site. We feel this site is in an inappropriate location as it is a catchment area for a tributary to the Grey River and above the intake for the Greymouth District water treatment plant,” Sardelich said.

The resource consent shows Sewell Peak Farm was granted a discharge permit in 2016 for 15,000 cubic metres of demolition waste/clean fill to be put onto the land at Taylorville every year for five years.

The company was granted a variation in February to allow contractor Paul Smith Earthmoving to put non-clean fill material from the old Grey Base Hospital into the pit such as timber, painted wooden wall linings, fragments of Pink Batts and pipe lagging and residual metal work. Asbestos, lead paint and treated timber were forbidden.

An environmental assessment said heavy metals could cause chemical contamination of the 2ha site. The risks were low but included subsidence and the discharge of contaminants to the groundwater that flowed into the Grey River 850m away. It concluded that, with appropriate controls and management procedures, the variation was unlikely to present a significant risk to the environment.

Notes from the council compliance visit on March 17 say officers had concerns about the fill site including fly dumping, techniques used to trench, non-consented materials not being removed and drainage from the site going into a neighbour’s pond.

Officers saw metals in the pit but were assured they were illegally dumped there and would be removed.

Paul Smith Earthmoving did not respond to requests for comment.