Refuse station appeal dropped

An Environment Court appeal against the building of a refuse transfer station on Te Ngae Rd has been dropped.

The man behind the appeal said he had withdrawn it due to a lack of iwi support, bad timing and the possible waste of time and money.

In October, Ngapuna resident John Tapiata and members of Te Arawa hapu Ngati Hinemihi lodged an appeal with the Environment Court against the decision to allow the building of a refuse transfer station on the corner of Te Ngae Rd and Hamiora Pl.

Previously, resource consent was granted to Transpacific Industries Group New Zealand to build the transfer station on the site of the old Challenge petrol station.

The proposed transfer station is within 200m of the hapu's ngawha (mineral baths), urupa (cemetery) and marae.

However, Mr Tapiata said from a cultural point of view the project should not go ahead but, Transpacific had offered the four marae surrounding the site a generous settlement as a sign of good will.

"Our case was not strong under legislation, so there was not much we could do.

"We had to think of the costs involved as well and rather than waste peoples time, money and effort we withdrew our appeal.

"Basically, this was our own fault. If we had been involved right from the beginning things may have been different."

Mr Tapiata said he had no problem with what Transpacific were doing but questioned the location of the transfer station.

"It still doesn't make sense, but this is a lesson learnt," he said.