‘Horrendous’ container park impact for residents goes on

Friday, 19 April 2024

A wall of shipping containers looms behind their homes and their lives are disrupted, now people living near a large container park in Christchurch are “extremely disappointed” by a new legal challenge.

Following a ruling restricting the facility’s activities earlier this year, neighbours of the large site had hopes for a quieter life, minus dust, noise and a blighted view.

City councillors were told this month the effects on residents had been “horrendous”.

However, operating conditions at the container park which has upset locals, including height and noise limits, have been appealed.

The container park is run by Australian-owned Qube (formerly Pinnacle Corp) on land bordered by Tunnel Rd and the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River. It overlooks homes in several streets in the suburb of Woolston.

In February an independent commissioner imposed resource consent conditions such as an 11m height limit for container stacking, restricted daytime and night time noise, landscaping requirements, traffic management, and a 30m waterway setback.

The container park is a tenant of the Portlink industrial subdivision owned by Braeburn Property, a company headed by Christchurch property developer and investor Richard Peebles.

Braeburn Property has appealed to the Environment Court, saying some conditions are “unnecessarily prescriptive” for both current and future operators.

Jackie Simons, deputy chair of the Coastal Burwood Linwood community board, told this month’s Christchurch City Council meeting the facility’s neighbours were “extremely disappointed” at the appeal.

They were already putting up with noise, sleep disruption, dust, and loss of value of their properties, while the facility’s operators had disregarded their concerns, she said.

“The disruption to the people in Woolston over the last couple of years has been horrendous.”

Money and profit were being put before the welfare of people and the environment, and the appeal should be dropped, said Simons.

“Our people do not have the funds to go and get their own legal advice.”

She said the appeal could take many months and residents feared their neighbourhood could become another Bromley, where an offensive stench has hung over the suburb for years.

City council staff have previously warned the container park after rules were breached.

The appeal application from Braeburn Property argues against the commissioner’s ruling that container stacks qualify as buildings and must meet building height limits.

“Placing a height restriction on shipping containers is inappropriate,” the appeal application says.

Noise limits are unnecessary because “the existing container storage depot activity could lawfully generate a level of noise up to the maximum allowed by the (district) plan without the need for resource consent …” the appeal document says.

The appeal also seeks more time to establish landscape planting, queries whether the ecological setback should be measured from the riverbank or mid-tide level, and objects to having to provide a traffic management plan.

Stacked containers are close to homes in streets including Gould Cres, Long St, Bamford St, and Barton St.

The commissioner’s decision said that while the river separates the facility from residents’ homes, the containers appear closer as there is no screening from natural or built structures. The containers are also visible to recreational users around the river.

Riverside land by the container park is a habitat for native lizards and birds.

Braeburn Property says in its appeal application that it would like its objections heard by an independent commissioner, and is happy to meet city council officers to discuss its concerns.

Portlink was established by a subsidiary of Arrow Group on land rezoned for industrial use in 2009 because of its proximity to the Port of Lyttelton. It has progressively filled up with occupants since then.