Eastside community meeting well attended

Residents of Rotorua's eastern suburbs staged a protest outside the Lumbercube mill on Vaughan Rd in April.

A community meeting held to update Rotorua's eastside residents after the closure of the Lumbercube mill has revealed locals are relieved the noise problems are over.

But, according to Eastside Residents Association spokeswoman and secretary Ros Morshead, people will be keeping a close eye on what happens at the site in future.

"Our meeting was well attended and the relief following noise abatement was evident," she said.

She said Wayne Holmes from developers the Holmes Group, who are building Lynmore Junction, presented an informative update on the project and was happy to answer questions from the floor.

"The Holmes Group are to be congratulated on their open and positive approach to engaging with the community and we will be emailing various progress updates from them to those on our email list in the next week.

"The remainder of the meeting saw a presentation of the findings various members of the group had been working on prior to the Lumbercube closure, including collection of compelling noise data from our noise expert and results from our community health and impact survey released."

She said after previously meeting with Rotorua Lakes Council staff, no-one knew the future of the site.

"The situation was complex and quite unique in New Zealand's legal landscape, but we are satisfied that the correct procedures were being followed, and council were formally working toward the July deadline outlined in the noise mitigation plan.

"But we all need to remain mindful that we live in a diverse mix of industry, tourism and residential environments all competing for quality of space and the same issues could arise again anywhere in our district in the future.

"Careful and well considered decision making are key to avoiding reverse sensitivity and other unintended consequences.

"Moving forward, people across the district need to remain engaged and not be afraid to stand up and ask questions about what is happening around them to ensure that the needs of our residential communities are balanced with industry, business and development that enables everyone to peacefully co-exist," she said.