Silage stirs big stink

It's the issue that just won't go away.

Tempers were raised and accusations traded yesterday as the issue of silage was once more put before the Carterton District Council.

The contentious issue has been brought up time and time again by a small, but vocal, group of affected farmers, but councillors would have hoped it had gone away after they unanimously passed the silage bylaw earlier this month.

Instead, the issue was again raised in the public-speaking section by Carterton dairy farmer Ross Wither - who heads the Carterton Residents and Ratepayers Association - with the topic quickly becoming heated.

Mr Wither began by asking the council for answers to a series of questions put forward at a meeting at the Dalefield Hall in May.

On that night, about 60 people showed up to the meeting and, while it ended without a resolution, questions were submitted to the council.

"Everything is over and done with now and yet there are no answers," Mr Wither told councillors.

But far from accepting that, Mayor Ron Mark quickly fought his corner, threatening to eject Mr Wither from the meeting if he continued.

"If you think that I'm losing my patience then you are absolutely right," he said.

He then pointed Mr Wither in the direction of yesterday's council agenda, where the minutes from the meeting on August 10 included a provision to formally answer all questions.

He denied ever giving a specific date as to when the questions would be answered and said he would sue Mr Wither "until you are broke" if he repeated his statements outside the meeting.

"If you ever dare accuse me of dishonesty then I will have you, mate."

After a short break, councillors reaffirmed their intention to answer all the questions, stating that many had now become redundant due to the removal of water provisions from the final legislation.

The new silage law means from September 12 all silage pits and stacks will have to be located 100m back from any neighbouring residential unit under separate ownership, and 5m away from any boundary shared with a neighbour.

The feeding out of silage is also banned within 5m of any neighbour's boundary, although all provisions can be waived if agreed to by both neighbours.