Controversial Te Puna industrial park faces appeal from Western Bay of Plenty locals

Priority Te Puna spokeswoman Alison Cowley said opponents of the industrial park decided to appeal after holding a community meeting. Photos / John Borren, Alisha Evans

Concerned locals are appealing the decision to allow a controversial industrial park in their rural Western Bay of Plenty community.

Priority Te Puna has filed an appeal with the Environment Court against resource consents granted for the Te Puna industrial park by an independent commission in July.

Te Puna Industrial Limited bought 12ha of industrial-zoned land at 297 Te Puna Station Rd for $4.7 million in 2021 and applied for consents from the Western Bay of Plenty District and Bay of Plenty Regional councils in 2022.

Plans for the site included a sales office, refrigeration, engineering and workshop activities, including container washing.

Te Puna Industrial Ltd is half-owned by shipping container company ContainerCo, which would hold a “small supply” of up to 300 containers at the site.

Priority Te Puna spokeswoman Alison Cowley said members of the incorporated society decided to appeal after holding a community meeting.

“Following that meeting, there was no doubt that the will on the part of the community was to appeal.

“There is no shred of support for this development in Te Puna.”

There were safety concerns because of the increase in trucks and heavy vehicles on Te Puna Rd from the park, she said.

Priority Te Puna spokeswoman Alison Cowley says there is "no shred of support" in Te Puna for the industrial park. Photo / Alisha Evans

“We feel that the impact on Te Puna Village and the Te Puna Rd corridor has not been in any way considered.

“The safety concerns have always been around that industrial traffic will make it unsafe.

“They’re operating in a local, rural environment with local, rural people behaving as local, rural people do.”

Cowley said the society was appealing the resource consent on multiple grounds. The main one was that the effects on the community, its people and environment had not been adequately assessed.

The land is culturally significant to Pirirakau hapū, who occupied the Pukewhanake Pā at the headland of the Te Hakao valley, and the wetland was once an important food source for them.

Priority Te Puna was fundraising for the appeal, and the number of points it could appeal on would depend on how much money was raised, she said.

How this consent and appeal were assessed would set a precedent for other developers that had land on Te Puna Station Rd, Cowley said.

Around 30 Te Puna locals gathered to protest against the Te Puna industrial park. Photo / Alisha Evans

Other community members are rallying against the industrial park through a series of protests.

The first was held last week, there will be one on Thursday, and another on Tuesday.

Protest organiser Brooke Mullooly told Local Democracy Reporting last week that the wider community needed to know the project had been consented.

“We as a community actually need to stand up and show that we don’t want it here.”

ContainerCo managing director Ken Harris said Te Puna Industrial Limited had no concerns with Priority Te Puna appealing the decision.

ContainerCo respected the appeal process and how it would be worked through, he said.

The enabling consents granted were “relatively minor” for internal roading, water management and landscaping, Harris said.

It would be a low-density mixed-use business park with a range of supply chain businesses and offices, and involve attractive landscaping and improved roading.

ContainerCo managing director Ken Harris.

“These do not include a container park or large stacks of containers or involve excessive truck movements.

“We want it to look great and to be a great fit with the area and region because that’s going to maximise the value of what we do.”

Once fully developed, the site would generate 774 vehicle movements per day, with a peak of 125 vehicles an hour, the commission’s decision report said.

Harris said the vehicle movements included staff and customers accessing the site, not only trucks.

The resource consents were granted by an independent three-person commission following a thorough process, he said.

The commission’s decision was careful, balanced and considered. The matters raised at the public hearings were accounted for, Harris said.

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council had committed to upgrading the Te Puna Station Rd/Te Puna Rd intersection, with works set to start in October and finish late January.

However, on Friday the council’s projects and monitoring committee chose not to upgrade the road until the appeal was decided, and Te Puna Industrial Limited agreed to pay for the improvements.

Harris said the company was happy to pay.

The appeal will go before an Environment Court judge who will determine the next steps.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.