Landfill request still on hold
THE consent application for a landfill near Brighton Beach will remain on hold until at least the end of next week.
The application for the proposed landfill south of Dunedin has already been on hold since last year.
The Dunedin City Council provided additional information for its application to the Otago Regional Council at the end of last month.
At the same time, the city council said it would more than halve the size of the landfill’s planned footprint to lessen its environmental impact.
Regional council consents manager Joanna Gilroy said yesterday her staff were expected to finish reviewing the new information supplied for the application by June 18.
At that time they would inform the city council whether it had supplied all the information required for its application to proceed.
The landfill proposal has attracted controversy in Brighton.
Some opponents have said the community around Brighton Beach grew in recent years without adequately understanding a landfill had been planned for the area since the 1990s.
Some residents raised fears the landfill could contaminate Otokia Creek, which lets out at a Brighton Beach estuary popular with families for swimming.
Some raised concerns the proposed site, in a wetlands area, could violate new national freshwater rules.
Nearly 2000 people have now signed a petition opposing the landfill.
Among the questions the regional council asked the city council while the application was on hold was whether the city council’s assessment of alternative locations would be different if it had been undertaken in 2020 rather than the 1990s.
It asked whether new matters, including new legislation and urban sprawl, would have changed the original recommendation.
The regional council also asked whether any consideration was given to the potential future use of Otokia Creek and its tributaries downstream of the proposed landfill site.
If the application now proceeds, the regional council will determine affected parties and its notification status.