Residents Vow To Halt Quarry

 

North Canterbury residents are vowing to stop a large quarry being developed close to established homes, and will be making that point at 7pm this Thursday, 9th February at the Oxford / Ohoka Community Board Meeting in the Oxford Town Hall.

Christchurch Ready Mix Concrete Ltd (CRMC) is proposing the quarry on 50 hectares of farmland owned by the Spencer-Bower family along Isaac Road. CRMC has not yet submitted a resource consent application to the Waimakariri District Council and the Notice of Motion at this Thursday’s meeting, if passed, will ensure that the Oxford / Ohoka Community Board recommends to the council that any application for a quarry on the proposed site be fully-notified.

“We are very pleased that the Board has heard our concerns and will consider recommending to the local Council that any consent applications from CRMC be fully-notifiable,” says spokesman for the Isaac Community Association Inc. (ICA), Bud Caldwell. “People living in peaceful communities have already experienced large industrial activities being established with seeming and alarming ease in what are essentially lifestyle residential areas”, he says. “Residents in Easterbrook Road in Fernside are now having to deal with a large plastics factory built next to their properties, without public notification. That shouldn’t be allowed to happen ever again”, says Mr Caldwell.

Isaac Road residents are concerned about any quarrying activities on the proposed site.  CRMC intends to operate any quarry from 7am on Mondays to 3am on Saturdays and again from 7am to 7pm on Saturdays for 20 years. This will create large truck movements every 7½ minutes. Properties along Browns Road and South Eyre Road will also be impacted.

“We know the noise, dust, lighting and vibrations will adversely affect our lives,” says Mr. Caldwell. “A number of the residents have health issues, some with respiratory problems and a quarry on this site will exacerbate these considerably. From a financial perspective, our homes will start losing significant value right away. The only beneficiaries in this situation are CRMC and the land’s owners, all at the direct and immediate expense of the community.”

“A community is only as strong as its people and we are seeing our land, health and lifestyles being put under increasing pressures and unnecessary risks, enabled by a plan and process that should in fact be protecting us,” says Mr. Caldwell. “We believe the District Council must take responsibility for allowing the creation of residential lifestyle communities while providing them with proper planning protection. The ICA is taking every step that it can to prevent this damaging proposal from proceeding.”

The ICA has speaking rights at the Oxford / Ohoka Community Board meeting at 7pm at the Oxford Town Hall, 30 Main Street, Oxford on Thursday 9th February 2017.

ENDS

Background:

Planning and resource consents are required for this quarrying development and a Resource Consent application was to have been submitted before Christmas but the Waimakariri District Council asked that it be submitted after Christmas when more residents / staff are available to assist with the process.

Under the District Plan, partial notification is required but the residents are asking for full notification as many will be affected.

There has been a Notice of Motion drafted and submitted for consideration at the next Community Board Meeting in the A&P Meeting Room in the Oxford Town Hall.

 

North Canterbury News story: Read here

Oxford Ohoka Community Board Agenda 9 Feb 2017

In the agenda above:

1. Page 9: 5.1 details the first deputation made by this community group in December 2016.
2. Page 16: The Notice of Motion, for consideration at the 9th February Community Board meeting, relating to the quarry application.

Note:

The Waimakariri area has one of the biggest, if not the biggest, number of lifestyle blocks in NZ.