The Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) is no longer seeking resource consents for the operation and is not pursuing the proposal, council solid waste manager Stefan Borowy confirmed yesterday.
It applied to the Central Otago District Council (CODC) last year to store and discharge up to 2000cu m of sludge each year on a 3500ha Ardgour Rd property.
The application attracted 74 submissions, including 68 opposed to the project.
So far the council has spent more than $50,000 in legal, resource consent and consulting costs looking at alternative uses of sludge and seeking resource consent for the Tarras operation.
Tarras resident and farmer Dan Perriam, who lives near the property, is the spokesman for the objectors.
When approached for comment yesterday by the Otago Daily Times he said no official word had been received from the QLDC to say the sewage sludge plans had been shelved -"but if that's the case, it's great news for Tarras".
"This has been handled badly from day one, which got everybody's hackles up. This was never the right place for a project like that."
Mr Borowy said the high level of opposition to the plans was a contributing factor in the QLDC's decision.
"We're here for the good of the community and we're not in the process of not listening to the people," he said.
In his report to the Queenstown Lakes council's utilities committee last week, he said the objectors' main concerns included the health risk, odour from the sludge, contamination affecting animals and water, dust, increased traffic on the roads, lack of consultation with neighbours and the community, setting a precedent and the long-term effects of the proposal.
However, Mr Borowy did not rule out similar proposals in the future.
"The view [of the committee] is that if we should revisit this method of sludge disposal in the future, there would be a thorough and full public consultation first."
The council had learned some lessons from the process, he said.
"We thought we'd consulted with all the relevant parties but it came out that was not the case. It's best to try and get everyone on board before submitting an application."
Council staff had been investigating uses of treated sludge since June last year and sought expressions of interest from people who had an application for it.
After discussions with Bruce and Linda Jolly, who owned a farm at Tarras, the council applied to store and discharge sludge from Wanaka on the Jollys' farm.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Jolly said he had not received any information about the project being shelved.
Mr Borowy said the council still believed treated sludge was a valuable resource, full of nutrients, that could be used beneficially rather than being thrown on the landfill.
It still wanted to hear from anyone interested in using treated sludge, he added.
