Puketona Quarry. Photo / Peter de Graaf
A group of residents, property owners and concerned stakeholders of the Puketona, Haruru and Waitangi communities and surrounding areas have expressed concerns about plans to rezone a buffer area between a new subdivision and a neighbouring quarry.
The disputed block, known locally as The Blob, sits between a new subdivision and Puketona Quarry.
The rezoning sought to extend the existing Mineral Extraction Zone to include the entire adjoining lot, allowing extraction from a prominent hill on the property, locally known as “The Blob”.
Residents said The Blob was mistakenly included in the Mineral Extraction Zone proposal and have expressed concerns about dust, noise and water quality, among others.
Some houses lie within 20m of the proposed boundary.
Far North District Council admitted that The Blob may have been added to the Mineral Extraction Zone in error, but said corrections are complicated and may only be resolved through appeals.
The proposed rezoning would extend the existing Mineral Extraction Zone to cover the blob, allowing quarry operator Ventia to extract rock.
Ventia declined to comment and referred questions to the council.
Jeff Archer, a resident who has been leading the fight against the expansion, said they were not properly notified and some have already invested in building new homes that could be directly affected.
“We’ve all worked pretty hard for these properties and spend quite a bit of money, top dollar, to try and get these properties. When we bought them, we did. We did what we thought was our due diligence to make sure that the quarry could not come closer to us.
“We’re way too close to the quarry, way too close, so dust, noise, vibration, all going to be issues, and all of our houses look directly into the quarry, and there’s nothing we can do to hide it. So right now, we can’t see the quarry, we can’t hear but it effectively is moving on to our doorstep.”
The mineral mined at the quarry is basalt, informally known as blue rock, and is used in roading.
He said he has stopped the building of his house since he heard what was happening.
“There is another property next door to me that hasn’t been built on yet, and they won’t do until this is resolved.”
FNDC planning and policy group manager Roger Ackers acknowledged that errors can occur when drafting a new District Plan, given its size and complexity.
“The council acknowledged the error in the hearings report,” he said. “However, because it was identified late in the process and no formal submission was made opposing this zoning, the council was unable to address it through the hearing process.”
He said removing the disputed land from the quarry zone would require a separate plan change, which is not possible within the Government’s deadlines for finalising the plan. Pursuing such a change now would also be “costly and inefficient” while a submission to rezone the entire block for quarrying is still being considered.
Ackers stressed that the zoning is still only a proposal and carries no legal weight.
“There was no submission seeking to remove the area referred to as ‘the Blob.’”
“Council officers have recommended that the request to extend the Mineral Extraction Zone at Puketona should not be accepted,” he said. “No submissions were received seeking a reduction to the existing extent of the Mineral Extraction Zone.”
Ackers said if the rezoning were to go ahead, any actual expansion of quarrying would still require a separate consent process.
“That process requires a Quarry Management Plan to demonstrate how impacts on residents, the environment, and heritage values would be identified and managed,” he said.
He stressed that no final decisions had been made yet, and the hearings panel would consider all submissions and recommendations before the council made its determination on the Proposed District Plan in May 2026.