Mount Maunganui intensification plans raise air quality concerns over council’s Plan Change 33

A general view of some of Mount Maunganui's industrial area covered by an airshed, and its downtown shopping and residential area. Photo / Alan Gibson

Plans to enable housing intensification in Mount Maunganui have been labelled “extremely irresponsible” by a marae representative who says the community is already suffering from the effects of a polluted air shed.

Today Ngati Kuku and Whareroa Marae environmental representative Joel Ngatuere spoke on the fifth day of an independent commission’s hearing into Tauranga City Council’s proposal to increase housing intensification - known as Plan Change 33.

Ngatuere told the hearing there had been three deaths in the community in the past three years related to respiratory illness believed to be linked to pollution within the Mount Maunganui Airshed. Others living in the area had been suffering from sudden asthma attacks, vomiting, and headaches, he said.

Potentially exposing more people to these risks via Plan Change 33 was a concern, Ngatuere said.

The Mount Maunganui Airshed covers the industrial area and Whareroa Marae. It was introduced to enable tighter rules and resource consent decisions for the industrial area to better manage industrial discharges of pollutants such as PM10, and methyl bromide. However, there have been regular breaches over the years.

“We already have a residential population that is slowly being poisoned, whether that’s ourselves at Whareroa or our community partners and friends further down from Whareroa through to the base of Mauao. “I want to make it real clear, everybody is slowly being poisoned,” Ngatuere told the hearing.

“It’s extremely irresponsible to increase the population in this area without addressing the health issues that already affect so many.”

Ngatuere said the community at the northern end of Mount Maunganui, not covered by the airshed, was also experiencing the same effects.

“How can we be mana whenua [land owners] if we allow our neighbours all through the Mount to have similar experiences to ourselves? How can we be kaitiaki [guardians] by opening our arms to thousands more people coming in and being exposed?”

Ngatuere said he was disappointed there had not been more engagement with his community.

“I can tell you right now, we’ve had three people die in our community in the last three years - all of it related to respiratory problems. Not cancer, not any other disproportionate ailment that Māori are prone to,” he said.

“It’s all been because of respiratory illness.

“That’s our lived experience.

“We wouldn’t wish this on anyone in any community.”

Ngatuere referred to his children, one of whom suffered a sudden asthma attack while drawing, and another began vomiting while walking down the road.

“We do not want this to be our legacy, that more people coming into our community to have these same experiences.”

Whareroa Marae environmental spokesman Joel Ngatuere at a Plan change 33 hearing. Photo / Alex Cairns

Asked by hearing commissioner Vicki Morrison-Shaw what he’d like to see done, Ngatuere said he was not anti-development but there waswork to be done before intensifying the area.

“You can’t just put medium or intensified housing and wrap it around a polluted air shed without dealing with the polluted air shed,” Ngatuere said.

Ngatuere was supported by lawyer Kate Barry-Piceno who presented a submission on behalf of Clear the Air charitable trust and Tauranga Moana Fumigant Action Group.

Barry-Piceno said no air quality experts had been brought in as part of the council’s plan change preparations and there should have been.

“This inconsistency in approach is quite frankly, stark.”

The council’s process failed to ensure the health and well-being of future residents in the area, she told the hearing.

The purpose of legislation aimed at enabling intensification by councils was not meant to override their obligations to prevent new residents’ exposure to environmental harm from a known polluted airshed, she said.

Barry-Piceno asked the commission to consider a limit to sensitive areas in Mount Maunganui to be set back from the airshed’s boundary, with a buffer setback distance of 500m. She also suggested the commission defer ruling on the matter until the airshed was lifted as “maybe that would motivate both the city council and regional council to take this seriously”.

“It’s not just industry not stepping up to the plate. It’s our own councils,” she said.

Lawyer Kate Barry-Piceno, Adam Thompson and Claudia West (Mount Business Association manager) at a Plan Change 33 hearing. Photo / Alex Cairns

“There’s a reason the community gets hot around the issue of air quality. That’s because they feel the councils are failing them and they have for a long time,” Barry-Piceno told the hearing.

Barry-Piceno said it was disappointing a Toi Te Ora report released in July about Mount Maunganui’s air quality impact on health did not prompt more action from authorities.

A further 46 submissions sought for air quality matters to be addressed in Plan Change 33, she said.

Barry-Piceno also spoke for the Mount Business Association and said there were already existing issues with sewerage and rubbish collection that would only be exacerbated with more residents.

“The council needs to take care of these when deciding where to put any more permanent residents.”

She referred to a clash between original residents of Twin Towers and tenants of the commercial spaces below, particularly when they gained popularity and sought licences to sell alcohol.

“The Mount has a brand of its own and should be encouraged. Encouraging more residents in Mount Maunganui north will just lead to noise, congestion and infrastructure overload,” Barry-Piceno said.

“The Mount is unique. It needs care. If there’s going to be rapid growth here, it needs better consideration.”

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.