Council and Government say no money to clean up old West Coast rubbish dump mess

Tuesday, 4 June 2019

Volunteers will keep cleaning up riverbed and beaches polluted with rubbish from an old exposed landfill on the West Coast, despite funding being cut.

About 75 kilometres of coastline and the Fox River bed is still strewn with rubbish after torrential rainfall and flooding late in March caused a disused landfill to disintegrate.

The Westland District Council and the Government have pledged no further financial support for the cleanup.

Volunteers are calling for the Government to declare a national emergency.

The council said it had spent $1.1 million on the storm damage so far and could not afford to continue paying contractors to clear the rubbish.

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Flood water surges down the Fox River on the West Coast after extreme weather, in March 2019.

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It received $300,000 from the Government, but it was not enough. It suspended the cleanup on Friday.

More volunteers are needed to clean-up the large scale disaster.

The council's Fox River recovery project manager, Te Aroha Cook, said another $750,000 was sought for the first 14 kilometres of river.

'The total amount to achieve a 100 per cent cleanup, which some estimates say could take more than a year, is unknown at this stage as it simply has not been assessed,' he said.

Rubbish polluting previously pristine West Coast riverbed.

Volunteer co-ordinator Mike Bilodeau said his team would continue regardless, but believed the Government should declare a national emergency.

'The response is an embarrassment to the Government. The way they have left it like this is completely irresponsible.'

Volunteers continue to clean up rubbish from an old landfill in the Fox River despite no Government funding.

Volunteers had cleaned up about 5 per cent of the rubbish in eight weeks.

Bilodeau called for more volunteers and donations. Volunteers needed to be very fit to clean up the rough terrain of the riverbed, he said.

'We have a lot of work to do, but we're up to the challenge. We won't give up even if others have.'

Minister of Conservation and Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage said landfills were the responsibility of councils. It was expected the funds already given would be a 'considerable help', she said.

The Department of Conservation has been on the ground supplying staff to support the council and volunteers.

'It is surprising that Westland District Council has requested more funding so soon, four weeks after Government assistance was provided,' Sage said.

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said the council could not afford to clean it up because of the scale of the disaster and a small ratepayer base of only 6500 households.

West Coast Tasman List MP Maureen Pugh said the $300,000 put up so far was 'a pittance' and 'an insult' to clean up the scale of the disaster.

There were funding sources in the 2019 Budget for emergency situations the Government could use, she said.