Landfill application called flawed

Any further delays to the application to build a landfill near Brighton Beach should put an end to the project, Saddle Hill Community Board chairman Scott Weatherall says.

The Dunedin City Council lodged a resource consent application to operate a landfill at Smooth Hill with the Otago Regional Council at the end of August last year.

But the application is on hold as the regional council waits for more information from the city council more than six months later.

The regional council asked for more information on four topics, including the criteria the city council used to evaluate alternative locations for the proposed site.

At issue for those who oppose the landfill, and say it could contaminate the popular estuary at Brighton Beach, is the declaration by city council chief executive Sandy Graham that if the consent application had been lodged a week later, it would not have been accepted because of new national rules for the protection of freshwater that came into force on September 3 last year.

Beating the deadline by filing a last-minute application that still needed work more than half a year later was a mischievous and calculated move and the community should feel disappointed in the city council, Mr Weatherall said.

He expected once the outstanding information was provided, the regional council would again call for more material.

But that would show the application was flawed, he said.

"We know there are enough public questions, and concerns, about the integrity of the application to pose some concerns [for the regional council]," Mr Weatherall said.

City council infrastructure services general manager Simon Drew said the city council was trying to submit the information required as quickly as possible.

However, the application was accepted by the regional council as complete, Mr Drew said.

Requests for more information were normal, and took time, especially when they were for large, complex projects, he said.

At a closed-door meeting on August 5, when city councillors first approved lodging the application, Cr David Benson-Pope asked staff to investigate the cost of exporting waste from the city.

Mr Drew said that work was also unfinished and would be shared with councillors in the first instance.

Questions about the timing of the application should be directed to the city council, a spokesman for the regional council said.

Regional council consents manager Joanna Gilroy said she had no control over when applicants chose to submit an application.

Yet she confirmed the application was considered complete.

For any application that was considered when new legislation came in, she was required to consider how the new rules applied, Ms Gilroy said.

"There is clear legislative and legal guidance that we are following for all applications lodged in the system when the national environmental standards for freshwater took effect," Ms Gilroy said.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz