Source: Radio New Zealand
Clarkville residents protesting on Monday morning at Baynons Road. RNZ/Anna Sargent
People in the settlement of Clarkville, north of Christchurch, are worried someone could be seriously hurt or killed by gravel trucks pounding their narrow residential roads.
Gravel is being extracted from the Waimakariri River in preparation for the new $1 billion Woodend Bypass motorway.
When locals heard that extraction work, which began in summer, was set to resume again on Monday, they blocked the road – with themselves – in protest of trucks using it to haul thousands of cubic metres of gravel.
Rugged up on a cold Autumn morning, about 20 people stood in a line across Baynons Road.
Resident Sarah Manning said they had been dreading the work starting up again.
“When the trucks were going before and after Christmas it was incessant, there were sometimes five trucks on about a kilometre worth of road, and they all pass each other and they were speeding, there were rocks falling, it was extremely unsafe,” she said
“We had letter in our mailboxes saying it would start today and that their hours would be 7am to 5pm Monday to Friday.”
Leonie Ward lives on Baynons Road and said people were worried about someone being seriously hurt or killed.
“My partner in fact had a rock come through his windscreen. It was about the size of one and a half golf balls and what happens was the rock fell off the truck and bounced off the truck and hit his windscreen. He said if he had been on a bike or walking that would’ve killed him,” she said.
“We are firmly of the belief this work should be halted until the issues can be resolved.”
Canterbury Regional Council granted consents almost two years ago for up to 90,000 cubic metres of gravel to be extracted from the Waimakariri and Ashley Rivers for the Woodend Bypass.
Baynons Road resident Juliet Edwards. RNZ/Anna Sargent
Baynons Road resident Juliet Edwards said people were not given any notice that their roads were part of the haulage route.
She said trucks had been pounding past their front gates, the local school and through a horse riding reserve.
“Everytime a truck comes past our house shakes like a miniature earthquake. And when that’s happening every five minutes, and because I work from home, it’s awful it’s so distracting. It actually affects your mental health in the end,” she said.
Edwards had stopped riding her horses.
“We actually moved here because of this road because it’s lovely and quiet and it was actually a safe place to ride our horses. We can’t now when the trucks come, it’s terrifying and we just don’t want to risk it,” she said.
Edwards said locals had been raising concerns with the Waimakariri District Council for months but felt like they had not been heard.
She said there was a safer river-haul road that gravel trucks could be using instead.
The trucks did not arrive on Monday, and the Waimakariri District Council said it would consider whether it should look at an alternative haulage route at a meeting on Tuesday.
The council said it had been working closely with locals and contractors to ensure concerns around safety, behaviour and disruption were understood ahead of works starting.
Initial works would be taking place between May and September.
Clarkville residents protesting at Baynons Road. RNZ/Anna Sargent
“While these works are to enable the Woodend Bypass, they are removing elevated shingle levels within the riverbed which present a significant flood risk that needs to be addressed,” a council spokesperson said.
“The removal of material from the riverbed is necessary and will help reduce the risk of flooding for nearby properties as well as the wider community downstream.”
The council said mitigations had been put in place including a maximum speed of 40km/h for all trucks and operations limited to weekdays only.
Edwards said residents would be ready if the gravel trucks did return.
“We’ll do everything we can to stop them. If the powers that be can’t stop them then it’s up to us to stop them, we will be lying across the road if that’s what it takes. We will be linking arms and we will be in their way. We’re not going to let them do this,” she said.
Transport agency and council responds
New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said it was aware of the concerns of residents, and contractors would work to reduce any disruption to the locals.
Canterbury Regional Council regulatory implementation general manager Paul Hulse said gravel extraction in the Waimakariri River was vital for reducing flood risk.
“For this consent it was assessed, given the mitigations (including conditions of consent) and limits of what was proposed, that there were no grounds for notification under the Resource Management Act 1991,” he said.
“In terms of the haulage routes, our role is limited to determining where contractors can access the river and remove gravel. The location of these access points depends on a range of factors, including a site’s proximity to the roading network, existing tracks within the riverbed, other vehicle movements/activities, the sensitivity of surrounding environment with an aim to minimise nuisance where possible.
“Once the trucks leave the regional park land which is owned by us, it’s up to local councils to manage the traffic effects.”
Hulse said there were no available alternative access points within the regional park that would not affect a similar number of residents and park users.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand