Western News: September 13, 2016

WESTERN NEWS Tuesday September 13 2016 3
News
Yaldhurst dust woes
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
TESTING HAS shown that dust
around Yaldhurst has exceeded
air pollution guidelines on 16
occasions and is associated with
quarry activities.
Environment Canterbury
conducted tests around the
quarrying area from December
23 through to April 26 with the
final report released recently.
Eight of the
exceedances were
recorded at two of
the sites located on
the West Coast Rd,
downwind from
the quarries indicating
they were
the source of PM10.
The report does not specify
which quarry companies, but
Winstone Aggregates, Fulton
Hogan, Road Metals were in the
testing area.
The report was a result of a
monitoring project set up after
residents raised concerns about
dust emissions from several
quarry sites located in Yaldhurst
at a public meeting last year.
Residents on the Old West
Coast Rd are living as close as
80m to Winstone Aggregates.
The CDHB’s Canterbury
Medical Officer of Health
Dr Ramon Pink (left) said
PM10 particles inhaled can
be damaging and exacerbate
respiratory diseases.
“Because of the small size of
the exposed population at Yaldhurst
we cannot say with any
certainty what impacts would be
at an individual level,” he said.
The report showed concentrations
of repairable crystalline
silica measured at all sites on two
separate days were below the applicable
guideline value.
Residents were unhappy with
the results.
“They had the dust monitors
in the wrong place. They didn’t
have them calibrated for fine
dust, only the heavier PM10,”
Yaldhurst Rural Residents Association
member Ann-Marie
Youngman said.
She said she would have liked a
monitor on her property.
Meanwhile, a community
liaison group will be set up to
address the residents’ concerns
after a deputation by Mrs
Youngmann and resident Gavin
Barclay.
HEALTH
CONCERNS:
Dust from
Winstone
Aggregates has
left residents
concerned for
their health.
•Photo taken
on the Old
West Coast Rd,
August 30.
They presented to the commissioners
who said in response,
a liaison group would be set
up, which would be led by the
quarry operators.
But Mrs Youngman said she
is not prepared to meet with the
quarry operators anymore.
“They have had every chance
in the past and it is wasting my
time . . . we have had meeting
after meeting,” she said.
Mr Barclay said if the liaison
group was successful it would
be a great result but he was dubious.
In Brief
SERVICE CENTRE
The city council approved
the Riccarton-Wigram
Community Board’s bid to
keep the Riccarton service
centre in the commercial area.
When the current Clarence St
site housing the old Riccarton
Community Centre is sold the
city council will either provide
a co-located space with
another business or construct
a temporary building to serve
as the service centre in the
interim. This will be until the
new Riccarton Community
Centre opens in mid-2018.The
sale of the Clarence St site is to
proceed as soon as practicable.
SPEED LIMITS APPROVED
Thirty-two speed changes on
different roads in the western
area of the city have been
approved by the city council.
It is part of a speed limit
review which is held every
two years. City council staff
will undertake additional
consultation for a further
reduced speed limits for
Halswell Junction Rd, Quaifes
Rd, Marshs Rd and Whincops
Rd (west of Marshs Rd) and
Sparks Rd. City council
staff will report back to the
community board at the end of
December.
Dr Chrys Horn
Councillor
for Halswell
facebook.com/chrys.horn
Twitter: @ChrysH
“Connected Communities,
Thriving Christchurch”
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