Frustration over dump station delays

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Tourism in Tairāwhiti will benefit if Gisborne District Council supports funding applications for a new public dump station which has had a resource consent since 2019.

That was the key point Darryl Keast made in a public submission to the council’s Operations Committee.

He said the New Zealand Motor Caravans Association (NZMCA) had been working with the council for five years to assist with designing a dump station. A resource consent was approved four years ago.

“Since then, the council has refused to support funding applications through government agencies.”

Mr Keast showed a drawing of the proposed dump station (from the back of the consent application document) on council-owned land on the Innes Street-Stanley Road intersection.

The proposed dump station was environmentally “quite unobtrusive, and very functional”, he said.

“It’s designed to drive in, do your business and drive out.”

According to the NZMCA, the council  had only to consult with iwi and get some quotes.

“It would be ready to go.”

Mr Keast is secretary of the local NZMCA but he said he was making his submission primarily as a ratepayer.

He accepted the council was under financial pressure, but the dump station would incur no capital costs.

The dump station would cost $180,000, based on a similar dump station at Tasman District Council.

NZMCA had already contributed $24,000 and could contribute another $75,000.

Funding of $75,000 was available from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), but the council had to apply for the funding.

Dealing with the council had been “frustrating at times and disappointing”.

Mr Keast said Gisborne needed a purpose-built dump station.

Many other councils had built dump stations which had provided a benefit to their respective regions.

It would boost tourism numbers, and tourists would stay in the district longer.

The situation was an opportunity being wasted by the city.

Existing private stations were basic and difficult to use and turn around in.

Questioned about the delay in progressing the project, Mr Keast said there were concerns “somewhere” about costs, and that previous tourism infrastructure funding sources had closed.

Councillor Rob Telfer asked what was the real hold-up.

“That is my question,” said Mr Keast.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz asked if discussions with NZMCA were ongoing.

“It’s been shut off,” Mr Keast said.

He had decided to act “as a local”.

Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann later said there had been a previous funding bid which had been declined in the long-term planning process.

Other funding had been prioritised since flood recovery.

There was “a bit more context” to the issue.

Cr Larry Foster suggested the matter be treated with some urgency as, according to Mr Keast, the resource consent expired next year.

Council director engagement and Maori partnership Anita Reedy-Holthausen said the consent did not expire.

Cr Foster said the council should still act with urgency on a matter which dated back to 2019.

More information was required, including finding out if the matter was as easy to progress as simply applying for a grant.