Featherston Quarry consent

These documents are associated with the Council’s decision to grant a resource consent to PJ Warren to undertake extraction, storage and processing of gravel on Underhill Road, Featherston.

This follows the granting of an extraction consent by Greater Wellington Regional Council.

An external consultant planner from Boffa Miskell assessed the application on behalf of the Council and recommended that the application does not need to be publicly notified. They found that all parties affected by the proposal under the requirements of the Resource Management Act have given their written approval to the proposal.

Council staff have agreed with that assessment and approved the application, subject to a range of conditions to effectively manage noise, roading, dust and on-going monitoring.

A number of pieces of correspondence were also received from parties interested in the application.

Expert reports received with the application – and subsequently peer reviewed – can be found below. They concluded that concerns about the effects of the quarry operation on Underhill Road and from noise were adequately addressed. The Council used independent advice to ensure an unbiased decision is made.

Effects on the natural environment, including water quality, are the responsibility of Greater Wellington Regional Council and were addressed in that consent.

Background
The quarry gained consent to extract aggregate in Underhill Road from Greater Wellington Regional Council in 2020. The consent will expire in August 2030.

It also requires a resource consent from the South Wairarapa District Council as industrial activities, including the extraction, storage and processing of materials, are not activities permitted as of right in rural zones.

GWRC manages the effects on the environment, while the Council manages the effects of land uses.

Council officers met with a number of interested parties in November 2020 to discuss the applicant’s proposal to allow aggregate to be processed on site and carted away.

In granting a resource consent, the Council considered traffic, noise and vibration, dust and other effects.

An independent traffic assessment provided by the consent holder was peer reviewed by an independent consultant and it aligned with the applicant’s report.

The Council’s roading engineer also reviewed both reports and imposed conditions. These include limiting truck movements to weekday, daytime hours.

There are 24 conditions associated with this consent. They include requirements that the consent holder actively manage dust so it does not cause nuisance beyond the site’s boundaries.

The Council also commissioned an independent consultant to peer review the consent holder’s acoustics report. Testing found that the noise did not exceed the permitted rural zone standards beyond the area identified and the report also found that the noise level was appropriate for the rural character of the environment and primary production. Any parties deemed affected by noise effects have given their written approval.

While traffic management did not present concerns, it was pointed out that the narrowness of the road would make it difficult for two trucks to pass. However, it is a straight road and trucks should be travelling at a low speed so all road users will have adequate warning, should they need to pull to the side.

Consent application
Noise compliance assessment
Acoustic peer review
Applicant’s updated noise compliance report
Applicant’s traffic assessment
Peer reviewed traffic assessment
Independent traffic review report
Approved signed decision
Quarry Q&A