Council working on Saddle Hill quarrying issue

It may take Dunedin city planning staff some weeks to work through the issue of quarrying activities on Saddle Hill, resource consents manager Alan Worthington says.

Last month, the council wrote to Saddle Views Estate, the company which owns the quarry, asking it to provide evidence of existing use rights.

The director of the company is Calvin Fisher.

The letter was sent after residents raised concerns with the council Mr Fisher planned to abandon a "gentleman's agreement" drawn up about a decade ago and expand the quarry further up the side of Jaffray's Hill, the smaller of the two Saddle Hill peaks.

The prominent Saddle Hill landmark is a landscape conservation area, although quarrying is not prohibited.

Mr Fisher says he never made any promise on behalf of the quarry to limit quarrying and was not made aware of any gentlemen's agreement when Saddle Views Estate bought the quarry and surrounding land in 2002.

Mr Worthington said Mr Fisher had responded to the council by the September 3 deadline.

It was not appropriate to release the letter or discuss its contents while staff were working on the matter, he said on Monday.

He said that could take some weeks.

"I am keen to see the situation clarified once and for all and as soon as possible."

allison.rudd@odt.co.nz