<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>November</strong> <strong>26</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 10 NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Tensions high over Bromley odour • By Louis Day TENSIONS FLARED within the city council chambers yesterday as options at reducing the infamous and long-lasting Bromley odour were discussed. Insults were directed at councillors and council staff from the public gallery, with some councillors being called out by name for refusing to meet with disgruntled residents to discuss the issue. City councillors in the end decided to postpone making a decision on the matter until December 9 to allow for further engagement with affected members of the community around the various options proposed. <strong>The</strong> city council-owned organics processing plant in Bromley is where organic waste, including the contents from kerbside green bins, is processed and turned into compost. Nearby residents believe it has been the source of the notorious stench that has plagued the community since 2009. This is around when the plant began accepting material from green bins which includes meat, fish and dairy. Before that the plant only accepted green waste. According to Environment Canterbury, the plant, which processes more than 60,000 tonnes of material a year, is responsible for 70 per cent of the odour. Residents have complained of bouts of depression, not being able to enjoy outdoor activities or open windows for fresh air and even their children being teased at school due to their clothes FRUSTRATION: Residents believe the Bromley organics processing plant (above) has been causing a stink in the community for more than 11 years. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN smelling of the odour as a result of the stench. Ellen King said she considered the plant “an evil in our community.” “<strong>The</strong> trauma of the situation we are in goes well beyond the foul odours. It extends to the reinforcement of the fact that if you live in the east you are considered second class citizens and really should not expect to be treated with the privileges we might experience if we lived on the other side of town, if it were not so, this plant would have been shifted years ago,” she said. Multiple members of the community have called for the plant to be relocated. “Buy a valley on route to Akaroa and shove it up there!” said Geoffrey King, another disgruntled resident. City council staff did not recommend relocating the facility, labelling it as “ prohibitively expensive,” costing more than $70 million in total. Staff recommended an upgrade of the plant that would increase the aeration of the composting tunnels, which they believe will improve odour control. City council head of three waters and waste Helen Beaumont said this would take up to two years to implement. However, this would not completely eradicate the odour. “Will there be zero odours? No, I don’t think so, I think it will minimise the odours from this site,” Beaumont said. Other options included fully enclosing the plant, continuing with planned operational changes while refraining from significant infrastructural ones, building more compost tunnels and shutting down the plant and sending all waste to landfill. Four reasons you should install fibre Over two and a half million people using fibre in New Zealand – but some people are still not convinced Over two and half million New Zealanders get home at the end of the day to a fibre broadband connection that ensures they can do all the things they want online. Yet, many other New Zealanders still put up with a poor performing internet connection when they do not need to, which begs the question: why? Christchurch-based fibre broadband provider Enable, runs the network that provides over 120,000 connections and hears a lot of stories from those people for whom a fibre connection is essential. Enable hears less from those who have not switched to fibre broadband yet and is worried that some of these people are missing out because they do not understand all the facts. Enable recently completed some research to better understand what customers on old technologies such as copper broadband or lower performing services like fixed wireless* believe and why they stay on these services. This research highlighted some key themes including, wanting to get fibre but believing gaining approval from neighbours or landlords is hard, worries about new infrastructure installation damaging properties, wanting to stick with copper broadband or simply thinking that changing is not worth the hassle. Copper broadband will not be around forever It is a fact that copperbased telephone and broadband services will not be available forever. Some telecommunications providers are already beginning to shut down the remaining copper services in some parts of New Zealand – such as Spark’s plans in Devonport and Miramar. No announcements have been made for Christchurch or surrounding towns, but it is likely only a matter of time. Customers can get ahead of these changes by making the switch to fibre now. Getting consent to install fibre is easier thanks to recent law changes A couple of years ago, the Government made changes to the Telecommunications Act 2001 that make it easier for many customers to get fibre installed at their home. In a lot of situations in shared driveways, private roads and multiowner buildings, Enable can apply these new rules and customers can avoid long waits for consent from neighbours or building owners. Installing fibre is usually easy and can have very little impact on properties Enable uses a variety of methods to install fibre – with a big focus on using the installation type that has the least impact on a property. Methods like slot cutting (a thin 10 millimetre cut in hard surfaces) or installing the network on a fence railing, can leave very little impact on a property. Of course, every property is different, and some methods cannot be used in some situations. <strong>The</strong> value placed on fibre broadband comes down to the individual <strong>The</strong>re are lots of reasons why people switch to fibre. <strong>The</strong> obvious ones are because they want a better internet experience and for their families to be able to do all the things they want online. Other reasons can include fibre improving house value or simply because the installation by Enable is still free in almost all residential connection situations. Everyone should think about switching to fibre now, so they do not miss out on one or all of these benefits. *Based on the Commerce Commission’s Winter <strong>2020</strong> Broadband Comparison Report.
Thursday <strong>November</strong> <strong>26</strong> <strong>2020</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> 11