Construction company gets go-ahead to develop quarry in rural Marlborough

Wednesday, 22 February 2023

A construction company is to operate a 40-hectare quarry in rural Marlborough after the impact on the neighbouring community was deemed to be “relatively minor”.

CMT Group will be allowed to extract around 20,000 cubic metres of gravel a year at the Waihopai Valley Rd site, about 45 kilometres from Blenheim and about 3km upstream from the Waihopai Dam.

However, the quarry will only operate for 18 weeks of the year, with just 4000 square metres being excavated at one time.

While there are several dwellings in the area, the closest one is 500 metres away, but 1km from the gravel processing area.

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Independent commissioner Antoinette Besier signed off on the resource consent this month on the basis the company adhered to a string of conditions.

CMT Group would also run a clean fill site at the quarry, bringing clean fill from other jobs it worked on to use as backfill when restoring each “quarry cell”.

The site would be “progressively rehabilitated” after each gravel extraction had been backfilled, so the land could revert to pastoral grazing, the decision said.

The site was currently used for stock grazing, but would be “returned to pasture in an improved condition”, given the soil was not “highly productive” to begin with.

At least 200 metres of topsoil would be kept and used as the “final layer” when backfilling.

Sediment control measures would also be put in place to ensure sediment did not get into the stream that flowed “intermittently” through the site. And the company would have a mobile water tank on site during the extraction process for “dust suppression purposes”, and a 3m-high bund to screen off the work.

Work would be restricted to 7am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, and 7am to 3pm Saturday.

A new entranceway, approved by Marlborough Roads, would be built to ensure traffic safety. The consent would lapse in March 2028.