Residents last night continued their campaign against the Dunedin City Council’s plan to build a new landfill at Smooth Hill, above Brighton.
About 100 people filled Brighton Community Hall to form an action group of volunteers to encourage residents to ensure their voices were heard.
Under Covid-19 Level 2 restrictions, only 100 people could attend, but it was filmed for those unable to be there.
There was a sense of determination in the hall as residents were addressed by members of community groups and trusts, as well as an environmental economist, archaeologist and other local skilled people.
“This should anger everyone ... Please don’t feel ashamed if you feel angry,” Otokia Creek and Marsh Habitat Trust trustee Simon Laing told residents.
He called the way the city council had gone about the landfill “an attempt to rob Dunedin of its chance to have a say in the matter”.
He encouraged those who felt they would be affected by the proposed landfill to write a submission to the Otago Regional Council, which was considering the city council’s resource consent.
“Your anxieties are valid consideration for the Otago Regional Council,” he said.
The trust had been campaigning against the landfill, as a branch of Otokia Creek, which flows to the coast at Brighton Beach, originates within the proposed site, where the council has applied for resource consent for the six million cubic metre landfill.
Saddle Hill Community Trust chairman Scott Weatherall had compiled a list of all the community groups which would potentially be affected by the landfill, which could help build their case against it.
“There is a view in [the] wider community that people of Brighton just don’t want a landfill in the community ... but the bigger issue is environmental concerns.”
The residents were forming a plan for each potential outcome.
Former city councillor Colin Weatherall updated residents on what stage the regional council was up to, the possible paths the process could take and prepared residents for their response for each outcome.
“Your voice is important ... Be passionate,” he told meeting attendees.
National Party Taieri candidate Liam Kernaghan also attended and said he was “disappointed” the council had bypassed the community and fast-tracked the resource consenting process.
“There is a huge community sentiment here to make sure the right thing happens.
“I know the community will have a whole range of ideas of the way forward.
‘‘It’s just a shame the council have not taken on board some of their ideas and concerns yet.”
Big Stone Rd resident Sarah Ramsay, who lives opposite where the landfill would be, said it was “disgusting” that the community had not been involved in the decision-making.
“You don’t have to be an expert to submit your concerns.”
Council has said there was public consultation in 1992 and 1993. The designation for Smooth Hill was then subject to further consultation with the notification of the city’s first district plan, and again as part of consultation on the 2GP.
People in the meeting said, as they understood it, that the responses to that consultation were generally unfavourable.
