By TONY GEE
KAIKOHE - A revised management plan for the problem-plagued Whangae landfill between Kawakawa and Opua in the Bay of Islands has been accepted by the Far North District Council.
The plan, put forward by the tip's neighbouring landowner, John Robinson, is designed to address major concerns and adverse effects
of the present landfill operation for at least three years.
Ongoing and clear breaches of resource consent conditions at Whangae and the district council's failure to comply with its own management plan for the landfill last week prompted the Northland Regional Council to threaten infringement notices and possible legal action leading to criminal prosecution.
The regional council general manager, Warren MacLennan, warned his district council counterpart, Clive Manley, that if lack of cover for rubbish, no stormwater separation and offensive odours continued at Whangae, action would follow.
Leachate from the district council-owned landfill has not always been contained and has run onto neighbouring properties, but Mr Robinson said his plan was designed to stop leachate problems.
It involves extending the landfill's present area into a southwestern valley of land at the back of the present dump.
Engineers estimate there is a 300,000 cu m capacity within the new site which would satisfy a need for space to take refuse from the southern part of the Far North district.
Landfill operations in the extended area would be for three years, with a maximum extension of another three.
The district council has been trying unsuccessfully for some years to find another southern landfill site.
Mr Robinson's plan for Whangae must gain iwi and regional council approval before he is paid $10,000 by the district council for developing the plan.
It must also stack up against the alternative of trucking compacted or loose waste from Whangae northward to the Ahipara landfill near Ninety Mile Beach.
Whangae topped Mr MacLennan's list of six district council-run problem landfills and sewage treatment systems throughout the Far North.
His letter outlined the most serious resource consent breaches, saying the number of incidents was growing and there was particular concern about those which were ongoing and longstanding.
At one of the sites, the Hihi sewage treatment plant on the Mangonui Harbour, difficulties over land purchase for a new site have been going on for about five years while discharge continues to enter the harbour after heavy rain.
In Kaikohe, the town's landfill has closed and car bodies are no longer being dumped.
At Kerikeri, where there are offensive odours from the town's sewage treatment system, an extension to the scheme aims to address the problem, while at Ahipara, effluent runs onto a property next to the sewage treatment plant.
Mr Manley said he was to meet the regional council this week to discuss its concerns and how they could be addressed.
"We're not ignoring these problems. We are working through them."
By TONY GEE
KAIKOHE - A revised management plan for the problem-plagued Whangae landfill between Kawakawa and Opua in the Bay of Islands has been accepted by the Far North District Council.
The plan, put forward by the tip's neighbouring landowner, John Robinson, is designed to address major concerns and adverse effects
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