Council to make a decision on the Organics Processing Plant

Christchurch City Council will be considering options relating to the Organics Processing Plant following a recent tender process.

“Through the recent multi-stage tender process for the Organics Plant Upgrade project we received some great proposals from the market. However, all compliant proposals were above the $21.5 million budgeted for the works,” says Christchurch City Council Head of Three Waters and Waste Helen Beaumont.

“We are looking at whether we can refine the scope of the redevelopment to bring costs down without compromising our commitment to reducing the odour issues.”

Due to the higher than expected costs of upgrading the existing facility in Bromley, the Council is also assessing the viability of building a new organics processing facility in a different location.

“We know the Bromley community want the odour issues associated with the plant addressed as soon as possible so we are working at pace to collect all the information needed to enable the elected Council to make a call on whether we push ahead with the redevelopment or build a new plant at a different site.

“We are aiming to bring a report a Council meeting in September that outlines all the options and their advantages and disadvantages,’’ Ms Beaumont says.

That report will be considered in the public excluded section of the Council meeting because of the commercial sensitivities around contract pricing.

However, any decision reached will be communicated to residents at the earliest possible opportunity after the meeting.

“We understand this process may be frustrating for residents in the Bromley community, however, this is a complex multi-million dollar project and we want to make the right call.’’

“If the case for a new site stacks up, and the elected Council decides to build a new organics processing facility, any potential location would be subject of a resource consent process, which is likely to be notified. This would mean that people living or working nearby would have the opportunity to provide feedback,’’ she says.

“Whilst staff are exploring the possibility of building a new plant on a different site, we are still actively working on plans for the redevelopment of the Bromley site and working through the final stages of the tender process.’’