‘Offensive dust’: consent granted despite failing to meet condition

UNHAPPY NEIGHBOURS: McIndoe Logging Ltd’s heavy vehicle maintenance depot and mechanical workshop on Awapuni Road has long frustrated nearby residents, who claim disturbances from the yard are unbearable. Picture by Ben Cowper

A Gisborne logging company operating in an area shared with residential addresses has drawn the ire of locals who claim disturbances from the operation are unbearable.

The business says it will soon be leaving the site, but information obtained by Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) confirms it has been operating outside of its resource consent conditions.

McIndoe Logging Ltd runs a heavy vehicle maintenance depot and mechanical workshop at an outer commercial site on Awapuni Road.

Its most recent consent was issued in January, 2022 for 14 months and came with a strict set of conditions, including that it provide Gisborne District Council with a finalised dust management plan on how it would manage “objectionable or offensive dust” travelling beyond the site’s boundary.

In response to questions from LDR, council monitoring and compliance team leader Kate Sykes said her organisation had never received that plan.

Asked why the consent was granted without this condition being met, Ms Sykes said a number of compliance inspections and consent condition controls had formed an “active part of the discussions”.

“Although the dust management plan was never submitted in a final context . . .  we have regarded these discussions as forming part of an ongoing review of the draft dust management plan.”

In August 2022, the site received a monitoring inspection from the council and was given a C grade, meaning moderate, actual or potential adverse environmental effects or repeated low-risk non-compliance was present.

Between September 2022 and February 2023, the council received eight complaints related to dust from the property.

The consent states that if objectionable dust is observed beyond the property’s boundary, the activities generating it should cease immediately and not restart until the council grants permission.

Ms Sykes added there were several properties in the vicinity with “large, unsealed surfaces” and it was not always possible to attribute dust to one individual property.

Rob Blair has lived at a nearby address for 40 years and says industry operating over the back fence has been a thorn in his side.

Some days he can’t open his windows for fear his house will be filled with wood dust floating from the direction of the yard.

“The effects of industrial operations in these areas are having a detrimental effect on the residents,” he said.

“Our main issue is that they should never have been issued a consent . . . it’s very stressful on the residents down here.”

Sacha Nunn, who owns a property backing on to a driveway for the land, said being woken up by vehicles entering the yard at 2am wasn’t uncommon.

Tenants who had moved into his house inevitably left because of the noise.

McIndoe administration and risk spokesperson Tim Wrigley told LDR his business was a tenant of part of the building and land (22 percent) at the rear of 83 Awapuni Road, and was bordered on all four sides by other commercial and industrial businesses.

“The Gisborne District Plan has been allowed to develop in a hodgepodge manner, with mixed land uses amongst residential,” Mr Wrigley said.

“That has created operational issues for many businesses and residents.”

In response to the eight dust-related complaints, Mr Wrigley said there was no evidence that it came from McIndoe’s operation. McIndoe had engaged a resource consent specialist to avoid, mitigate and remedy any issues arising from business operations, he said.

Industrial businesses wanting to operate on the 1.3-hectare site — which is included on the council’s hazardous activities and industries register — have long frustrated residents seeking a quiet life near Waikanae Beach.

In 1989, an application for a road transport depot to operate at the same address was declined because of noise concerns and the stress it would place on nearby residents.

Five-term district councillor Andy Cranston was one of the objectors at the time.

The site is situated in an area of ecological significance, backing on to Waikanae Stream, and is listed on the most recent resource consent as an area of interest for Rongowhakaata.

McIndoe’s most recent resource consent expires on May 11 and the council confirmed it had not received a new application.