The company was granted resource consents by Environment Canterbury (ECan) and the Waimate District Council at the end of last month and parties had 15 working days after that to file appeals with the Environment Court.
That deadline expires tomorrow The Environment Court's office in Christchurch said yesterday no appeals had yet been filed and three parties involved in the resource consents process, including Oceania, indicated yesterday they would not be doing so.
Oceania acting chief executive Paul Park said yesterday his company was "relatively happy" with the consents, and the conditions granted by ECan and the Waimate council and would not be lodging an appeal.
The company had already called for tenders from two contractors for supplying the main plant for the factory, which would be built on a 5.5ha site about 3.5km north of Glenavy in Cooneys Rd, just east of State Highway 1.
Contractors would make presentations to Oceania on their tenders at the end of this month, and it was likely a contract would be finalised by the end of next month.
That would meet the timetable to start construction in May-June and have the new plant operating in August 2011.
The new plant would be capable of processing up to 220 million litres of milk a year from 50,000 cows, with the vast majority of the milk coming from within a close radius of the plant in North Otago and South Canterbury.
During construction, up to 200 workers will be employed and when the plant is operational, there will be between 60 and 70 new jobs created at the plant and with outside contractors servicing it.
The plant will have a 45m-high boiler exhaust stack, 35m-high drier tower and ancillary buildings up to 10m high.
Two neighbouring farmers objected to resource consents being granted for the plant, their main concerns were the effect on groundwater levels with the plant disposing of treated milk wastewater on the ground, and the effect on the landscape and the health effects - particularly on people suffering from asthma - created by the coal-fired boiler.
Andrew and Jane McFarlane and Robin and May Murphy said yesterday they would not be appealing the resource consents to the Environment Court.
