Living next to a P lab

A woman living a ‘‘nightmare’’ next to a suburban meth lab in Blenheim has witnessed three police raids in a year and people traipsing into the property at all hours.

Last week, she watched from her bedroom window as an armed police officer loaded his firearm and turned to face her home.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, feels unsafe and unheard, living near a property where police discovered a ‘‘significant clandestine laboratory’’ last week.

While she was relieved police had closed the lab and laid charges, she said the experience had been so off putting she intended to sell up and leave the top of the south.

‘‘The sad thing is, it’s made me want to leave. I really love my house and garden but I am going to leave Marlborough,’’ she said.

Police blocked off Warwick St in Mayfield as they searched the property of the former timber treatment plant on December 18.

The neighbour said she looked up to see the street filled with police cars. They put up tape around the property and two fire engines also attended.

Police said they found the lab along with a chemical smell and equipment. A 30-year-old man was arrested and taken into police custody.

He will appear at the Blenheim District Court on January 27, facing charges of possessing methamphetamine and possessing precursor substances to make methamphetamine.

The 0.3 ha property has a dilapidated building at the front. The back is littered with old cars.

‘‘It’s an absolute wreck,’’ the neighbour said.

It was a 24/7 operation, with cars coming in late at night. In the early days, people would come yelling and screaming, she said.

‘‘We had some terrible nights, having to ring the police.

‘‘It’s been a nightmare for two years.’’

The neighbour had tried to notify Marlborough District Council for 18 months, but said she was told the council’s ‘‘hands were tied’’. She thought the owner of the building and the council needed to be held to account.

Other neighbours on the street included elderly people and families with children, she said.

In 2017, a proposal to turn the property into accommodation for vineyard workers was quashed by residents. More than 60 neighbours on Warwick St and the surrounding area signed a petition, arguing the development would devalue their properties. The property now holds a warning for ‘‘methamphetamine contamination’’ on the council’s website.

A council spokesman said it had declared the Warwick St property hazardous after police advised chemicals were present and that a clandestine methamphetamine lab was operating within the main building.

As a result a ‘‘cleansing order’’ was issued to the owners with a requirement to test and decontaminate it by May 1.

The council had responded to various complaints from the public about the property since 2018.

In March last year, it received complaints about industrial or commercial work being done on the site. The council identified one business being run there, which was stopped, the spokesman said.

In April 2019 the council received another complaint about commercial activity – this time about cars being dismantled and wood chopping. This wasn’t permitted and the activities were stopped, the spokesman said.