Huntly 'no dumping ground', protesters say

Thursday, 6 August 2020

Huntly residents Allan and Bronwyn Kosoof protest against Gleeson & Cox's proposed managed fill site

A proposed managed fill site has Huntly residents fired up, who say it’s a “dumping ground” for Auckland’s waste.

Gleeson & Cox are proposing to set up three clean and managed fill sites at Huntly West Quarry on Riverview Rd.

About 100 protesters showed at the site on Thursday afternoon, chanting: “say no to the dump, say no to the dump”.

Residents say the site will contaminate the nearby “pristine” Lake Puketirini.

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The proposed site would contain three fill areas totalling 13.1 hectares, and could take 2,000,000 cubic metres of waste.

About 100 Huntly residents chanted 'say no to the dump' at a protest outside Huntly West quarry on Riverview Road.

It is located near to Lake Puketirini, and the consent would allow a discharge into the lake.

Community spokesperson Tawera Nikau said Huntly won’t be a “dumping ground”.

“If it was clean fill why are they bringing it to Huntly? Why don’t they leave it in Pakuranga, or Auckland?”

“They are saying it’s a managed clean fill dump, but they’ve got rubbish coming out of Auckland, they’ve got rubbish coming out of Hamilton that’s contaminated, it’s from building sites.

Gleeson and Cox did not respond to Stuff's requests for comment

“We have seen over the last several years, where old landfills in the South Island have caused catastrophic environmental hazards, and we don’t want to see that to our kids and grandkids in 40 years’ time dealing with that.”'

He wanted Waikato District and Waikato Regional Council to properly consult with the community, mana whenua and iwi, he said.

Community board member Red Wootton said earthworks have disrupted a tributary which flows into Lake Puketirini, he said.

“Three weeks ago the international dive club complained because they could not see in the water.

“My concern is that we have five lakes here. We’ve killed three already with pollutants, and we’ve got two pristine lakes left.”

Wootton said the company had impacted a wetland.

However, Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson said he did not have any evidence of this.

“I haven’t heard of a wetland on the top of the hill there.”

Any discharge would have to go through two retention ponds and a wetland before it reached the lake, he said.

“A dump is what you get at Hampton Downs.

“A cleanfill site deals with contaminated soils and crushed concrete. It’s nothing nasty it’s just somewhere to put [the material]”

He had some sympathy with residents who felt Waikato was taking Auckland’s waste, he said.

An independent commissioner will consider the consent, Sanson said.

The commissioner will decide whether the consent will be publicly notified or not.

Waikato Regional Council incident response leader Wayne Reed said council had received a complaint of unlawful earthworks and would be investigating.

Gleeson & Cox sales manager Steve Horne told Stuff the managed fill site was following a consent process.

He said a lot of people in the community were misinformed about the application.

Horne declined to comment further.