Residents fired up over noisy pet crematorium

Lincoln residents Bob and Joanne Tomkins say the noise coming from Fond Farewells Pet Crematorium is impossible to mute out.

By Georgia O'Connor-Harding

A hum from furnaces operating at a Christchurch pet crematorium up to six hours a day is upsetting residents living nearby.

A public meeting between concerned residents, the district council and Environment Canterbury will be held on Monday over the operation of Fond Farewells Pet Cremation Service in Lincoln.

About 30 residents turned up to the first meeting in June.

Gribbles Veterinary Pathology Ltd was given district council permission to redevelop its Marion Pl site in 2015.

The district council's environmental services manager Tim Harris said the resource consent was granted without consultation because it found adverse effects on neighbours were "less than minor".

But Bob Tomkins, who lives in Armil Pl behind the pet cremation said the burners operate at such a low frequency even grade five earmuffs cannot mute the sound.

He said all affected residents should have been informed of the development and had the right to object.

The business is as close as 400m from residential dwellings.

Residents started noticing the sound of the burners at Christmas time last year, mistaking it for roadworks on Gerald St.

Tomkins' wife Joanne is terminally ill with pulmonary arterial hypertension and needs a double lung and heart transplant.

A recent visit to a specialist found Joanne Tomkin's condition had progressed by 18 months and were told the likely cause was stress and a lack of sleep.

"She just can't sleep and the stress is killing her," Bob Tomkins said.

Joanne Tomkins said the noise gets to the point where she cannot leave doors open because it can be heard from the other end of the house.

Residents would like to see the business moved.

Gribbles Veterinary has run the crematorium since 1986.

It was originally an incinerator, a component of agricultural research activities historically undertaken on the site by the former Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The new development has two furnaces, a preparation room, a storage room, car parking and reception and memorial rooms.

Gribbles Veterinary general manager James Richardson said it was previously in a paddock, but has now been met on the boundary by houses.

He said in the past 18 months the business had upgraded the building and furnace to ensure its services have a low impact on the environment and its neighbours.

Under the district plan the pet crematorium is in Business 3 Zone and noise is limited to 55dBA between 7.30am-8pm.

The decision to allow the development to go ahead restricted the operation hours from 6.30am-5pm, Monday to Friday and 6.30am to 2.30pm on Saturdays.

Residents wanted to know why a new resource consent to operate the burners was not granted from ECan. The most recent resource consent was granted from ECan in 2003.

A ECan spokeswoman said the consent covers the redevelopment.

- Star.kiwi