The Daily Blog Open Mic – Friday 30th March 2018

1. PUBLIC MEDIA MESSAGE;

   “Community concern’s expressed truck noise, vibration’s, and air pollution exceedances at pre-hearing”.

   GDC- RMA pre-hearing held on 29/3/2018 at the 9am at the Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club

   This week we attended the secret “Chatham rules” special GDC “pre-hearing” meeting involving ECT on their Eastland Port berth log expansion activities chaired by Consents Manager Reginald Proffit, as Winston Morton’s continuing submissions as one of the submitters to the GDC pre-hearing (that we are attached to as Winston’s “Deputy’s).

   Winston Morton’s concerns were valid, addressed before the “secret Chatham rules’ pre-hearing meeting, that the chair had ignored the submitter during his earlier submissions made to GDC for the ECT planned expansion to be made under the usual “regional plan Change” rather than a RMA application”.

   Mr Morton was seeking to allow the process to be made into a ‘transparent process and to allow the whole community to have their right to make changes to the way the Port operate in future in a more environmentally responsible manner.

   Issues of the transportation of logs to the Port 24 hrs was concern here as the bulk of the submitters were voicing their opposition to the industrial noise generated to the Port that were awaking many it was revelled at this meeting.

   Past ‘submissions’ on logging truck noise to GDC, may have overlooked it appears?

   http://gisborneherald.co.nz/environment/2662642-135/log-truck-complaints-come-thick-and

   We made a strong case to GDC after receiving a 280 signed petition in 2011-12 from the Esplanade community group who were requesting GDC make changes to Eastland Port bound logging trucks, to mitigate against their excessive noise, vibration and air pollution being generated.

   Chair Mr Proffit may wish to consider Mr Morton’s submission to change to “A Regional scheme change” rather than the restrictive secretive process the Eastland port appear to prefer to use.

   If Eastland Port really does care about the wider community impacts of negative noise, vibration, and air pollution from their ‘industrial activities” can GDC encourage ECT to be “environmentally and socially responsible” they are governed under, of “industrial activities” in a built environment”?

   https://thestandard.org.nz/jacindas-campaign-launch-speech/

   Quote; PM Jacinda Ardern said on her first speech;
   “The government I lead will be a government that listens, then acts. A government that leads, not follows.
   I will never stop believing that politics is a place where we can do good.
   That we can build a confident and caring nation if we include each and every person, in each and every town and region. That is New Zealand at its best.”

   As former residents/property owners of Napier before settling in Gisborne in 2005, our Napier community suffered similar problems as ECT Eastland Port are causing, when 14 suburban communities surrounding Port of Napier have truck noise, vibrations, and air pollution from carrying export freight to the Port of Napier, berths for future activities as Eastland port are.

   Our groups there have had meetings directly involving Napier Port executives at their own boardroom, receiving strong level of support from Port of Napier about their truck traffic noise, vibration, air pollution issues, so we are surprised the Eastland port are not reciprocating with all suburban communities surrounding the Eastland Port, are they worried about criticism from the wider community of Gisborne?

   We stated clearly to Chair Reginald Proffit we are part of Mr Morton’s submission to GDC on Eastland Port RMA application and operate an Environmental Monitoring company CER Ltd since 2002 has involved partnerships with Government agencies as well as Watercare and NIWA.

   Our company has reviewed the Eastland Port “independent environmental assessment” report for the ECT and we have several issues of concerns about the report.

   Many communities are now suffering from “industrial activities” involving truck traffic to Ports around NZ now and a new method of measuring “industrial noise” is warranted using changes in sound noise monitoring, as WHO and the EU are doing.

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/101613963/No-respite-for-sleepless-residents-on-main-port-thoroughfare

   This monitoring of truck freight residential urban noise, vibration, air pollution is a long debate now that will generate some issues, as we prepare to take up with GDC/ECT going forward.

   We do support the request made by Winston Morton to change the ECT application to a more “inclusive” far less ‘secretive’ procedure.

   ECT with their narrow focus “only inside the port noise zone” are restricting all residents from seeking mitigation from three negative truck effects of noise, vibration and air pollution, and should make a fresh submission to GDC for a simple scheme change to allow all members of the Gisborne community to become involved with the future planning of our Port facilities of which we all actually own as it was leased to the Trust called ECT which was to have provided equal benefits for all.

   Lastly at the GDC ‘pre-hearing’ on ECT RMA application our other submitter “Rail Action Group” the Chairwoman Gillian Ward expressed the wish that Eastland Port consider rail to move the logs to Eastland port. http://transporttalk.co.nz/news/rail-cards-gisborne

   While in Napier last week we witnessed 55 wagon trains stacked full of logs going to Port of Napier and while at the ‘rail head marshalling yard’ were wagons alongside the port for export (as used to happen at the Gisborne Port.}

   We support rail freight to our ports around NZ which is the plan in the Labour Government policy from 2004 by Pete Hodgson called NZ National Rail Strategy” TO 2015.
   Ministry of Transport.
   http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Import/Documents/nationalrailstrategy.pdf –
   We reviewed Hon’ Megan Wood’s speech to the Petroleum Conference which bodes well for rail since the minister has clearly defined the long term goals of her Labour lead coalition/NZF Government “transition to a low-carbon or a net-zero carbon economy will be as transformational as the industrial revolution was to the societies and economies in the nineteenth century.”
   so Labour need to get that rail re-opened and to plan to electrify the rail service from Napier to Gisborne to achieve that goal.
   http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1803/S00293/hon-megan-woods-speech-to-the-petroleum-conference.htm

Comments are closed.