District-wide matter: Quarrying

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District Plan Review consultation now closed.

Initial public consultation on key draft changes to the current Selwyn District Plan closed on Monday 8 October 2018. Thank you to everyone who let us know what they thought of the review so far.

What’s next?

Following this initial public consultation on the District Plan Review, the Council will consider all feedback and start developing detailed provisions for the Proposed District Plan. Please note that a summary report on the initial public consultation will be made available on Your Say Selwyn website at www.selwyn.govt.nz/districtplanreview.

It’s expected the Proposed District Plan will be

District Plan Review consultation now closed.

Initial public consultation on key draft changes to the current Selwyn District Plan closed on Monday 8 October 2018. Thank you to everyone who let us know what they thought of the review so far.

What’s next?

Following this initial public consultation on the District Plan Review, the Council will consider all feedback and start developing detailed provisions for the Proposed District Plan. Please note that a summary report on the initial public consultation will be made available on Your Say Selwyn website at www.selwyn.govt.nz/districtplanreview.

It’s expected the Proposed District Plan will be notified in early 2020 for formal public consultation. The longer timeframe is due to the local government elections at the end of 2019 and ensuring the newly elected Council endorses the Proposed District Plan before it gets notified.

We want to know what you think about the draft changes to quarrying related rules and policies in the current District Plan. These draft changes have been endorsed by the Selwyn District Council for further development as part of its District Plan Review.

How can I have a say?

To give us your feedback on the draft changes , you can:

There will be many consultation opportunities for feedback at different stages of the District Plan Review and this is the first such opportunity. It’s expected that the new District Plan will be notified in early 2020 and be fully in place, subject to any Environment Court appeals, in March 2022.

Background

Quarrying activity in Selwyn is primarily related to the extraction of aggregate for use in construction and related sectors. The Canterbury Plains are a rich source of aggregate, with a number of braided rivers that have coursed across the plains over thousands of years. As a result, Selwyn district contains over 200 existing quarries that extract materials either from land or river beds, and which range from small Council pits to large, commercially operated quarries.

Some quarries are historic, dating back to the early days of development in the district, while others have been established in more recent years to provide resources for Selwyn’s rapid growth, and for the post-earthquake Christchurch rebuild.

Historically, Council-owned and operated quarries are protected by way of designations in the District Plan, or are relying on existing use rights. New commercially-operated quarries have been established through the resource consent process, usually requiring a suite of resource consents from both Selwyn District Council and Environment Canterbury.

Given the anticipated growth in the district, and the pressure on existing quarries in the neighbouring Christchurch city area due to residential growth and groundwater limitations, it’s expected that demand for quarrying will continue to increase within Selwyn.

Quarrying in the current District Plan

In the current District Plan quarrying is classified as a discretionary activity in rural zone and a non-complying activity in residential and business zones.

There is a suite of regional policies that manage quarrying activities and which guide how the Council approaches quarrying. For example, the Canterbury Regional Policy Statement requires the District Plan to provide for quarrying in the rural environment as a rural activity.

Earlier this year Environment Canterbury together with the Christchurch City Council and the Canterbury District Health Board ran a comprehensive air quality monitoring programme in response to concerns about the health effects of silica dust coming from quarries in the Yaldhurst area. The monitoring results from the Yaldhurst Quarry Air Quality Monitoring Programme were released at the end of June 2018. For more information visit the Environment Canterbury website.


  • Key draft changes for the future District Plan

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    The Council’s District Plan Committee has endorsed the following draft changes for further development, which we’re now consulting on:
    • Clearly defining that the excavation of aggregate materials (quarrying) is a rural activity and how the associated industrial activities, such as screening and processing, fit in.
    • Develop robust policy framework for quarrying which ensures that related factors, such as noise, earthworks, traffic and dust, are considered and a comprehensive set of rules is developed.
    • Outline minimum information requirements for assessing resource consent applications for quarry developments.
    • Introduce setbacks between new quarries or existing quarries that are expanding, and sensitive activities, such as residential areas.
    • Quarrying within a rural zone, and if adopted, outside of a setback area, to be classified as a discretionary or restricted discretionary activity.
    • Explore delegating to the regional council the Council’s function of assessing the adverse effect of dust discharge on amenity values.
    • Investigate where the starting point of the quarry setback should be from.


  • Summary of key issues with quarrying related rules

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    As a result of the review of current policies and rules specific to quarrying, we’ve identified the following issues:
    • Lack of clear definition of quarrying and associated activities, such as screening and processing, and how quarrying fits into the rural environment.
    • Challenge of how best to provide for quarries within high quality gravel areas in close proximity to demand, while sufficiently mitigating adverse environmental effects associated with these activities.
    • Potential duplication around the assessment and monitoring of air quality, in particular the effects of dust, as a result of quarrying. New and expanding quarry applications usually require a consent from both Environment Canterbury and Selwyn District Council.