My Account
The family of Tony Lentino, the tech entrepreneur and former owner of Springhill Estate who died in 2016, is “disgusted” by Waste Management’s purchase of the land and plans to develop a landfill, a public meeting heard on Saturday.
In a moving and impassioned speech, Tony’s mother, Linda Brown, said there was no way her son would have wanted this for the farm he loved and his family were horrified at the prospect.
“Tony, my son, loved Springhill. He loved Wellsford, he loved the environment,” she said. “He loved every blade of grass, and this is not what he envisaged for Springhill. No way.
“My son’s ashes are sprinkled at Springhill and his spirit is at Springhill, and I’m buggered if I’m going to let a foreign company come and desecrate our beautiful countryside.”
Mrs Brown flew up from Napier specially to attend the Fight the Tip, Save the Dome meeting at Wellsford Community Centre, saying she wanted to offer protesters her moral support.
She said the sale had been handled by trustees and she and her family did not find out who had bought the Springhill land until after the sale had gone through
“When we found out, we were just gobsmacked … horrified,” she said. “None of us knew. The trustees do it all, and it’s all top secret. My family are so disgusted and so upset about this. It’s bloody disgusting, to be honest.
“I’m saying this for our great-grandchildren, for their future. They (Waste Management) have got no respect for the land, no respect at all.”
Rodney Councillor Greg Sayers said the community faced an uphill struggle in fighting the landfill, but he pledged to assist the community in any way he could.
“This is a David v. Goliath situation, make no mistake about it,” he told the gathering of around 80 people. “But I don’t work for Auckland Council, I work for you. There are half a dozen different ways I can assist you. For example, if there’s information you need from Auckland Council, I can get answers directly for you. We have already been asking a number of questions. I will represent your views.”
Local Labour MP Marja Lubeck said she would be asking questions and gathering as much information as possible from Government departments and officials, and said it went beyond political parties. “This affects us all,” she said.
After questions and discussion, the meeting concluded with the establishment of several sub-groups to develop a more detailed future protest strategy.
