Selwyn Times: May 27, 2020

SELWYN TIMES Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday May 27 2020 7
News
Tyre fire could help residents
battling waste facility expansion
• By Devon Bolger
PREBBLETON residents
fighting against a proposed
expansion of a nearby waste
facility plan on using the tyre
fire in Rolleston last week to aid
their argument.
The blaze started about
4.25pm on May 17 at the Diggalink
yard on Weedons Rd due
to a flare-up of hot ash. It spread
to a large pile of tyres near State
Highway 1.
Waste Management
Ltd’s
proposal for
the expansion
of its facility
at 305 Marshs
Rd also includes
a tyre
processing
Judy
Sachdeva
plant.
Judy Sachdeva,
who is
a part of the group of residents
fighting the proposal, said the
fire in Rolleston is very concerning
for them.
“There are two main problems
with tyre stockpiles, The first is
vermin infestation because rats
EVIDENCE: A tyre fire in Rolleston last week could help
Prebbleton residents fighting against a proposed waste facility
expansion nearby. ​
and other animals love living
there and the other is the risk of
fire,” she said.
Ms Sachdeva said they plan
on using the fire in Rolleston as
evidence at the resource consent
hearing.
A LOBSTER exporting
company with a facility in
Rolleston says the industry
is now bouncing back
financially.
Fiordland Lobster
Company’s general
manager of sales Andrew
Harvey says the company
took a seven-figure hit
because of the shutdown.
The company has an
export facility in Rolleston
that processes 600
tonnes a year.
The holding tanks in
the facility were full when live
exports to China suddenly
stopped. As a result, a lot of
“The fumes from it are also
not good. People in Rolleston
were told to close their windows.
We live very close to the facility
on Marshs Rd and we are downwind
in an easterly.”
An Environment Canterbury
the lobsters were sold into the
domestic market.
“People were getting exportgrade
lobsters at domestic prices
and that went surprisingly well,”
Harvey says.
Only a small quantity
of the total catch
normally sells locally
because China pays a
premium.
A high-end restaurant
in Shanghai can charge
up to $400/kg for a
Fiordland lobster.
As lockdown
restrictions have eased in China
and people edge back into
normal life, air freight to the
•HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you
oppose or support the
expansion of the Waste
Management facility on
Marshs Rd? Email your views
to devon.bolger@starmedia.
kiwi
spokeswoman said no date has
yet been set, but it is likely to be
in late July or early August.
Waste Management Ltd has
applied to expand its current site
and operate the waste treatment
plant at 305 Marshs Rd.
Resource consent was granted
for the proposed plant by the
Christchurch City Council in
December 2018.
ECan also granted three consents
for the plant’s construction
and discharge of stormwater in
March 2019.
The consent application currently
with ECan is only for
activities resulting in discharge
to air.
It ran a limited notified
consent process, which meant
only people within 500m of the
proposed facility had a chance to
have their say.
Optimistic future for lobster company
CONFIDENT: A lobster
exporting company is now
bouncing back financially.
Andrew
Harvey
country has resumed so the
company is quietly optimistic
the market for New Zealand
rock lobsters will return but
Mr Harvey says the industry is
monitoring whether China will
be affected by a second wave of
infections.
“Probably the biggest thing we
are watching is if Covid is really
under control in China and restaurants
don’t have to be closed
down again.
“If they don’t, then we are
coming through.”
New Zealand’s live lobster
industry is worth around $320
million annually, much of it sold
to China.
New science
building for
Lincoln Uni
LINCOLN University is set to
get a new science facility after
a $5 million boost from the
Government.
Acting vice-chancellor Professor
Bruce McKenzie said they
are welcoming ministerial
endorsement of their business
case for the construction of the
new facility.
“The endorsement demonstrates
the government’s confidence
in Lincoln University,
and means we can continue
our campus development programme,”
he said.
Education Minister Chris
Hipkins and Finance Minister
Grant Robertson confirmed
their endorsement for the business
case, releasing $5 million in
funding to progress the project
to the next stage.
Lincoln can now go to market
to tender for a construction
contractor.
Known as Science North, the
new facility will replace existing
earthquake-damaged buildings.
“Lincoln University has always
been a chief driver of innovation
in the land-based sector,
particularly in the food and fibre
sectors, and our new science
facilities will position us to take
an even more prominent role
in developing solutions for the
world’s most pressing environmental
challenges,’’ he said.
Science North is a part of a
wider campus development
programme for the university
that has already seen the launch
of new student social spaces,
landscaping projects and a series
of smaller general projects across
campus.