Council formally apologises over ‘appalling’ response to Bromley stench

Friday, 27 October 2023

The Christchurch City Council has formally apologised to residents over its handling of the aftermath of the Bromley wastewater treatment plant fire.

The apology comes almost two years after fire destroyed the trickling filters at the wastewater plant, taking out 60% of its treatment capacity.

A report by Wellington consultants Tregaskis Brown Ltd, released earlier this month, heavily criticised the council’s community response to the fire’s aftermath, saying it was “too slow to recognise” the stench was a significant community issue.

In its response to that report, the council released an eight-page improvement plan on Thursday, where it acknowledged it did not consider early enough the impact the fire and its aftermath would have on residents’ wellbeing.

It said it was instead focused on keeping the plant operating.

“We are sorry that this has occurred and want to ensure that we learn the lessons from this response.”

Former mayor Lianne Dalziel did apologise at a community meeting last year, but it was the first time the organisation had formally apologised in writing.

For months, residents of eastern suburbs such as Bromley, Burwood, Linwood and New Brighton complained of nausea, vomiting, coughing, sore and watering eyes, headaches and migraines, and sleeplessness.

The Tregaskis Brown report said it was bad enough for people who experienced it occasionally, but this community experienced it for months on end.

“They were living in it, working in it, exercising or playing sport in it, and trying to sleep in it. Their children were going to school in it.”

It was “appalling”, the report said.

The council’s improvement plan said the first thing that needed to be addressed was its relationship with affected communities. It needed to acknowledge the report findings and ensure there was a positive way forward, it said.

The council said it wanted to work with the neighbouring communities to ensure that their voices were heard and that they contributed to council decision-making in a meaningful way.

It would put an increased focus on supporting early communication with affected communities, the plan said.

However, community advocate Stephen McPaike said he had no confidence that this would actually happen.

“The council is trying to do this PR (public relations) effort to placate the east, but there is no relationship between the eastern suburbs and the council.”

McPaike said it was going to take a lot of work on the council’s behalf to improve the situation.

He said the council could start by talking to the community first before making decisions.

“The whole feeling in the east is that the council does not give two hoots about us.”

Councillor Yani Johanson said the apology was better late than never but it needed to be matched with some tangible action and he did not believe the plan achieved that.

“Every step of the way it has felt like there is all the money in the world for the technical response but limited money for the health and well being response.”

The council would discuss the report at its meeting on Wednesday next week, where Johanson said he hoped some tangible decisions would be made.

The council acknowledged that strengthening and sustaining effective and respectful relationships would take time and would require a shift away from a “business as usual” approach.

It said it would review and develop its incident management team protocols and processes to ensure risks and issues were being escalated appropriately.

Council community, infrastructure and planning general manager Mary Richardson said the council sought guidance from the community and stakeholders before finalising the improvement plan.

“We listened to their feedback and made changes to the plan.”

She said staff apologised at meetings and again publicly during media interviews earlier this month.