Residents of small town 'caught off guard' by deadline for massive landfill

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

By reporter Keiller MacDuff

Residents of a North Canterbury town say a proposed landfill will bring a spike in heavy traffic, impact conservation land and pose a threat to waterways.

Woodstock Quarries Ltd have five resource consent applications before the regional council and one with Waimakariri District Council (WDC) to expand an existing hard rock quarry and construct a landfill on their site at View Hill.

The landfill, which would have a depth between 5 and 50m up to 14 hectares in total, would accept about 100,000 cubic metres a year of construction and demolition waste including hazardous materials, asbestos, industrial waste and contaminated soil.

The location, about 16km west of Oxford, is an area identified by the district council as an Outstanding Landscape Buffer Area, while other parts of the site are mapped as Land of National Significance and a Site of Special Wildlife Significance by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

The applications, which were first lodged in April last year, were publicly notified on November 12. The submission period closes on Friday.


On Wednesday, the Oxford-Ohoka community board “confirmed their decision to submit in opposition”.

“The Oxford Ohoka area is pristine land close to the foothills of the Southern Alps and the wrong place entirely for a landfill,” board chairperson Thomas Robson said.


He said there had been “significant community opposition” since the resource consents were lodged, but the deadline had caught the community board “off guard”.

“The communication wasn't great between Environment Canterbury and the Waimakariri council, and it’sonly just come to our attention at the start of last week.”

The board’s concerns included the possibility of leaching into groundwater, sediment runoff, the risk of the landfill liner failing, the potential for heavy rainfall, the risk of high winds spreading dust as well as legacy and after care issues, he said.

“What's going to happen after the 100 years, how is the leachate going to be managed once it does start leaching out of the liner and into the aquifers which feed most of the Waimakariri and Christchurch water schemes?”


Oxford resident Lindsay Edwards, who found out about the proposal via a social media post on Sunday, said it was “completely nonsensical” to have a site with “toxic waste, soil contaminants, demolition and refuse” at the Trig Rd location.

He said there were safety and maintenance issues with the increase in heavy traffic, especially with increasing numbers of subdivisions and young families in the area.

The proposed 40 extra truck movements – 20 trucks a day – are on top of the quarry’s existing consent, which allows for 125 heavy vehicle movements and six light vehicle movements each weekday, and 34 heavy vehicle movements and four light vehicles movements on Saturdays.


Edwards was also concerned increasingly severe weather posed further risks citing the Fox River dump disaster in 2018.


“They'll say, we'll meet all the regulatory requirements, but sometimes those regulatory requirements are not good enough any more because the environment is changing. There's potential for disaster further down the track.”

Quarry owner Darryn Shepherd said it was “unfortunate” if people had missed the notification, but those with concerns should read the publicly available documentation.

“All the stuff’s available on the ECan website that will tell you more than I can tell you, in a massive amount of detail.”

The landfill was a logical extension of the quarrying operation, he said.


“It’s the only way to put it back to be how we want it, back to nature.”

He dismissed concerns about increased truck movements, as there was already increased heavy traffic in the area “so I think our 20 trucks ... is not really a lot”.

Shepherd said he was not prepared to attend a public meeting if one was organised.

“Too many people get carried away and heated up. It's not a place for us.”

ECan consents manager Aurora Grant confirmed they had received a request for an extension, which was under consideration.

ECan’s notification recommendation report outlined their concerns with the proposal, she said.


“The applicant now has the opportunity to address these concerns and any others raised in the submissions.”

All RMA notification procedures had been followed, and seven affected parties had been personally notified – mana whenua Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga, and the owners and occupiers of six nearby properties.

She understood the applicant had been in contact with the Department of Conservation, but no submission has been received from them, she said.