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Auckland Council was grilled on what was happening to protect and preserve the old Warkworth cement works at a Rodney Local Board workshop on September 3.
Following the recent collapse of one of the three remaining chimneys (MM, Aug 18), Warkworth members Tim Holdgate and Michelle Carmichael quizzed Rodney’s parks and community facilities manager Geoff Pitman on what was being done.
“What’s happening? This has been going on for years. It’s pretty important for the group that’s doing the work,” Holdgate said, referring to frustrations voiced by the Cement Works Warkworth Conservation Trust.
Pitman said council was working to progress things, recently renewing the fence surrounding the ruins and undertaking more vegetation control.
“We’re in the process of working through all the consents and permissions to enable us to do some of the tree work which is needed there,” he added.
“And we’re finalising an operational plan, which the board funded a few years ago, that talks about how we should be maintaining [the site].”
Pitman said there had also been some initial structural surveys carried out.
“We got some guidance on some of the things that we could do, it’s really around securing the budget to do it,” he said.
Holdgate also asked about communications with the conservation trust, as members had complained that they were not informed about what council was planning for the heritage site.
“As we undertake works, we talk to the stakeholders and obviously the volunteer group there is one of the stakeholders, but as far as regular interaction with the volunteer group, that’s more through our volunteer coordinator,” Pitman said.
Carmichael asked him when council could share the operation plan with the trust, as they had been waiting a long time to see it.
“We’re getting close to the final draft … it got held up with a change of staff,” he said.
“It isn’t stopping us using the information we’ve gathered. We’re progressing the tree works, which were identified during that process, so those [kind of] things.
“The plan is that once we get a final draft, we’ll be approaching them for their feedback … it shouldn’t be too far away.
“We’re chipping away at it.”
Pitman added that he appreciated the conservation trust had been left waiting.
“I know they’re keen and very passionate about down there and we love that and want to try to help make things better,” he said.
$1m to renew cement works sewer system?
While progress is slow over preserving the cement works ruins, up to $1 million is being planned to upgrade the wastewater system for the site’s public toilets.
Rodney Local Board members were told that the on-site disposal field was in bad condition and the discharge consent expired at the end of this year.
Project manager Manju Jose said Healthy Waters needed to renew the consent and upgrade the treatment plant, as it was not currently treating sewage to a very high standard and disposal feed dripper lines were broken.
“We are planning to install a buffer tank, new treatment plant and increase the size of the wastewater disposal field,” she said. “We haven’t finalised our final cost estimate, but we believe it’s less than $1 million.”
Several members said that seemed like a lot of money for a small public toilet block and the boatyard, but senior specialist Dev Patel said it was because the disposal field was on top of a closed landfill site, between the carpark and the Mahurangi River.
“From a wastewater perspective, it’s not ideal to dispose of the wastewater on the landfill, so we are having to raise that area by almost half a metre, by bringing in cleanfill and topsoil, just so that we do have that separation of wastewater discharge and the landfill itself,” he said.
Board member Michelle Carmichael asked how robust the proposed new system was, to ensure that there wouldn’t be any overflows or contamination into the river.
“That is the reason for putting in a buffer tank, so we can store as much as we can and only dispose of what the land can hold, rather than dumping everything at once,” Patel said.
He added that Healthy Waters was in discussions with Watercare to see if the system could be connected to the mains instead, but there were complications in the short-term at least.
Board chair Brent Bailey said members understood why Healthy Waters needed to renew its consent, but thought other options should be considered.
“We understand what you’re doing, we understand why you’re doing it, but we think it’s going to be a hard sell,” he said.
“Our local knowledge suggests that connecting up to the reticulated wastewater network would have to be a preferred outcome. And if you’ve got a million dollars to spend, you can get a lot of that done for that kind of money.”
