PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSONMany are disappointed in Dunedin’s Green mayor, landowners along Otokia Creek say, in the wake of a landfill proposal that goes against national aims for freshwater. Members of the Otokia Creek and Marsh Habitat Trust have been campaigning against the Dunedin City Council’s plan to build a new landfill at Smooth Hill, above Brighton. They are "deeply concerned" about the timing of the council’s consent application with respect to the new freshwater regulations, believe the council’s consent application is incomplete, and are willing to go to the Environment Court to stop the council’s plans. The new landfill site is in an area that includes "degraded wetland" of moderate ecological value, according to the city council’s ecological site assessment. Lodging the consent application when it did meant the council had protected "the financial interests of the city’s ratepayers".

Source: Otago Daily Times September 09, 2020 16:37 UTC