Key Issues Report of the Porirua City Council - Environmental ...

seeking to protect and enhance its landscape features. This includes Duck
Creek.
4.43 To the south of Ranui and Cannons Creek is another Landscape Protection Area
supported by Policy C9.1.4 which seeks to protect the Belmont Scarp and
Eastern Porirua Ridge from urban encroachment to preserve the open space and
rural edge of Porirua City. Whilst it is acknowledged that the proposal is for a
road rather than an urban development, it is considered that this policy is
applicable in the sense of ensuring that the landscape character is retained.
Amenity
4.44 The District Plan seeks to protect and enhance the amenity of the Suburban
Zone (Objective C3.2, Policy C3.2.1). The District Plan also seeks to ensure
that activities do not detract from the character or quality of the rural
environment (Policy C4.1.3).
4.45 There are various effects associated with the project that have the potential to
affect the amenity of existing residential areas as well as the rural character.
These effects relate to both during the construction of the project as well as the
operation of the roads. There are effects such as noise and traffic which are
addressed also later in the identification of key issues through the District Plan
provisions – these effects all contribute towards the 'make-up' of the amenity of
an area.
4.46 During the construction of TGP there will be traffic generated by transporting
workers to and from the sites, movement of earthmoving machinery and general
road construction materials and infrastructure, and trucks associated with the
removal of forestry. Some of these movements may be required to be through
residential areas such as Ranui, Whitby and Waitangarua as identified in
Section 7.2 of the Assessment of Traffic & Transportation Effects 18 . The level
and nature of construction traffic through residential areas will affect those
residents amenity. In the provision of comments on the Completeness Report to
the EPA, comment was made on the absence of information on how the trees
located south of Ranui were to be removed from near residential areas. If this
removal involved forestry trucks traversing through residential areas then Policy
C3.2.1 would be relevant.
4.47 Other factors associated with the construction of the project that have the
potential to affect amenity is construction noise from blasting and rock
crushing. This activity was identified as potentially needing to be undertaken
between Cannons Creek and the Gun Club 19 . There are residential suburbs
adjacent to this such as Cannons Creek and Ranui and therefore the effects of
such an activity has the potential to affect the amenity of these residents.
4.48 The Lanes Flat site compound, as identified on Sheet No.GM13, and the layout
of displayed in Figure 8.1 of the a.e.e, has the potential to generate noise and
dust effects from such activities as concrete batching. It is assumed that this site
18 Folder 1 of 7 – Volume 3: Technical reports and supporting documents.
19 Section 5.6.2 – Excavation Characteristics of the Road Design Philosophy (Technical report 1) in
Folder 1 of 7 – Volume 3: Technical reports and supporting documents)
16