Council grapples with abatements at lawfully consented but controversial Greymouth landfill

The entrance to the Taylorville Resource Park private landfill, which is under restriction after WorkSafe closed it for an investigation. Photo / Brendon McMahon

The question of whether to grant a private landfill extra time to fix ongoing smell problems has been complicated by a WorkSafe shutdown and investigation at the site, and advice is being sought, West Coast Regional Council says.

An abatement notice from the council is currently in place for Taylorville Resource Park, near Greymouth.

But the original consents granted by council in 2021 to allow the site still stand and it was “lawfully consented” in the first place.

The private landfill has been closed since August 3 when two workers at the site were overcome by gas.

One person was flown to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition while another was treated at the scene.

On August 3 the site was already attempting to rectify odour issues after being previously slapped by the abatement notice from council. Another abatement notice earlier in the year, for dust, had since been complied with by the landfill operator.

An aerial view of the Taylorville Resource Park site looking southeast towards the Grey River. The Grey District Council's Greymouth drinking water treatment plant sits to the right of the landfill site, with the river behind. Photo / Greymouth Star

However following the August 3 gas incident, all work on the site had to stop when WorkSafe moved in for its ongoing investigation.

Regional council planning and science manager Fiona Thomson said the current abatement period for odour at the site runs out on Friday September 29.

Council had previously extended the abatement period due to the WorkSafe investigation.

Thomson said council compliance officers had visited the site on Thursday as part of an assessment for the abatement compliance.

Council would need to reach a decision by the end of Friday about the abatement issue.

Meantime the operators had asked council for more time to comply with the abatement.

“They have sought an extension,” Thomson said.

Council was obliged to consider an extension and was seeking independent technical advice around that.

“There’s a whole lot of working parts going on here. There are conversations happening with the operators,” she said.

And council would keep affected neighbours informed as soon as there was a clear picture on how it would be proceeding.

Thomson said any future resumption of the landfill site’s operation was also being worked through.

“The consents for the site stand. They have been lawfully consented.”

Council was still “working through” the possibilities and again it was “complicated”.

The conclusions of the independent review by environmental consultants Enviser into council’s role in giving the site consent in the first place was still reverberating.

“Yes, it has shaken us as to how the processes are run.”

Thomson said it had meant council had now “formulated a change” for consenting staff to follow in receiving and processing applications.

She described it as “lifting the bar on the process, making sure things are a lot clearer”.

This would make the expectations from council very clear for those planning to make resource consent applications.

“The clearer our position is, the clearer it is for developers.”

Taylorville Resource Park was approached for comment.

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