“My obvious answer is a lot more could be done, because clearly members of the community don’t understand what’s going on there & feel that they’re being impacted," says ECAN Councillor.
Bromley School's Cathy Baker, councillors Yani Johanson & Greg Byrnes talk solutions to the scrap pile; & NZR asks is the parent company meeting its NZ Association of Metal Recyclers obligations.
Cathy Baker sits in an office in Bromley School, which was abuzz with children’s play and teachers milling in and out of the school’s main office. After her 11 o’clock class, Cathy, a Bromley Community Centre board member, gives me a sense of overarching issues impacting this part of town.
The scrap pile viewed from the Ruru Lawn Cemetery in Bromley.
“I’m pretty concerned about the issues around the smell which is here today as well, and the - the sewerage smell - yeah, it’s been really bad today.”
“Yeah, it’s from the Bromley [sewerage plant]. So we get it a lot. There’s big issues around that - you’ve probably been reading that in the newspaper.”
ECAN Councillor, Greg Byrnes. Read his viewpoint below. Photo: ECAN
“And also the pile of cars over here which is a real eyesore, getting taller and taller, because I don’t think they’re exporting it anywhere at the moment,” says Cathy.
Cathy herself isn’t sure why the pile doesn’t seem reduce but she wants answers.
“The other problem is that in severe windy conditions like nearly two months ago the cars [car parts] were blowing over into the cemetery.”
Spot the difference: The photo on the left was taken today. The photo on the right on 28 January.
Cathy has only heard about car parts blowing over into the cemetery which separates Bromley School from the Annex Metals scrap heap.
“Such a impressive pile of scrap, wait till the scrap boat comes in and most of the pile will be gone, as for the boy racer's...........some of them are girls geez lady you sure do complain a lot”, retorted Gina King.
“I constantly am told there is no resource or capacity to do the Plan Change until PC 14 is done. However at Finance and Performance today [31 January 2024], we are advised there have been cost savings due to the high number of vacancies in our planning department.”
Yani Johanson, City Councillor
“My argument would be what is it. Is it a business that’s there to do that or it is a storage area. Because if it’s a storage area, it’s the wrong place for a storage area. You know, yeah you’d be better off somewhere else.”
“My obvious answer is a lot more could be done, because clearly members of the community don’t understand what’s going on there & feel that they’re being impacted.“
Greg Byrnes, ECAN Councillor
“And the car crushing noise - we’ve had issues with them,” says Cathy.
“They say they don’t car crush early. I used to live just down the road and they were car crushing in the weekends and late at night, early morning.”
Filmed this morning from Ruru Cemetery lawn.
Like Cathy, some online commentators were concerned by the pile, while others wanted the complaining to end.
“Just like all the other stinking smells and dumping grounds plus all the boy racers who screech their tyres late at night...they and the Council and Ngā Pirihimana [The New Zealand Police] don't give a rats ass about the people who live nearby...some of us have been here decades, long before these cretins set up their ‘businesses’ here,” wrote Carol Anderson.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The New Zealand Reporter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.