Bay Harbour: May 15, 2024
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<strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News Wednesday <strong>May</strong> <strong>15</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
4<br />
NEWS<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Dump site to be cleared after long wait<br />
• By Dylan Smits<br />
AN EMPTY section in Mt<br />
Pleasant is finally being cleaned<br />
up after eight years of complaints<br />
to the city council fell on deaf ears.<br />
The city council-owned 1001<br />
sq-m section in Virginia Lane has<br />
been an illegal dumping ground<br />
for years; residents complaints go<br />
back to 2016.<br />
Said long time resident Jo<br />
Doherty: “So many neighbours,<br />
past and present, have flagged this<br />
up with council, that there’s been<br />
dumping going on but nothing<br />
has been done for years.”<br />
Doherty said she had routinely<br />
told the city council as far back<br />
as 2016 of a particular person she<br />
had seen dumping materials. That<br />
person had continued to dump<br />
rubbish over the years.<br />
She said the city council’s response<br />
to her complaints was not<br />
good enough.<br />
“It’s really disappointing. You<br />
just start lose faith in people<br />
(council staff),” she said.<br />
Doherty complained again in<br />
February, and the council started<br />
the long awaited clean-up <strong>15</strong> days<br />
ago. The section will be clear by<br />
Friday.<br />
The person Doherty had been<br />
complaining about was trespassed<br />
by the city council on Thursday.<br />
But the man told <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong><br />
News he considered it unfair he<br />
had been the only one targeted.<br />
NO-GO: City council staff blocked off the entrance to 8 Virginia Lane on <strong>May</strong> 2 in an effort<br />
to prevent any further dumping on the section. Nearby residents have been complaining<br />
to the city council since 2016 to clean up the area.<br />
“There’s a number of people<br />
who used the property for<br />
different things – storing boats,<br />
materials same as me. I did<br />
probably have more stuff on it<br />
but I had an agreement with the<br />
original owner,” he said.<br />
City council head of city growth<br />
and property Bruce Rendall<br />
would not provide an explanation<br />
to <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News as to why it<br />
had taken eight years.<br />
He said staff had not looked<br />
back into records to verify if<br />
the resident’s comments about<br />
how long<br />
they had been<br />
complaining<br />
were “accurate”.<br />
“We have not<br />
undertaken a<br />
review of the history<br />
and neighbours<br />
claims so Bruce<br />
are unable to Rendall<br />
comment on the accuracy of this<br />
and the circumstances,” he said.<br />
Staff were “focused on moving<br />
forward positively and rectifying<br />
the issues’’.<br />
Doherty said concrete, polystyrene,<br />
general waste, building<br />
tools, wood, steel and chemicals<br />
have been dumped on the section<br />
since the original house was<br />
demolished, creating an eyesore<br />
and environmental threat to the<br />
nearby Glenstrae Stream.<br />
“We live in such a beautiful<br />
area, I just can’t believe this has<br />
kept happening for so long.”<br />
Rendall said investigations since<br />
September had to led to multiple<br />
people being suspected of illegal<br />
dumping.<br />
HAZARD: This photo from<br />
September shows the types<br />
of building materials and<br />
chemicals which have been<br />
left at the site. These items<br />
have now been removed.<br />
He said the rubbish clean up<br />
will cost $6300 in total with an<br />
additional $2200 for further vegetation<br />
work on the site.<br />
“If anything in particular is<br />
removed and disposed of that can<br />
be attributed to an individual,<br />
then that cost will be passed on.”<br />
He said the city council is<br />
avoiding prosecutions over the<br />
dumping because of the high<br />
evidence threshold needed.<br />
“The council is confident<br />
removal of the material can be<br />
undertaken at less cost to the ratepayers<br />
than the court process.”<br />
On <strong>May</strong> 2, city council staff<br />
blocked access to the section with<br />
a concrete bollard to prevent any<br />
further dumping.<br />
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