Way forward for Woolston container site

Christchurch City Council is working closely with the landowner and site occupier of Port-link Industrial Park on a way forward to address concerns about how containers are managed on the site.

The Council is investigating District Plan compliance on the site on Cumnor Terrace in Woolston, which is primarily being used for storing shipping containers, following complaints from the public about how the containers are stored on the site.

The Port-link Industrial Park is located in the Industrial General Zone, which means industrial activity is permitted, including storing containers. However, that activity on the site must comply with rules in the District Plan.

“We’re currently investigating to see if the activity is compliant with these rules. We’re looking at the height of the shipping containers, the setback areas, noise and earthworks. The landowner and site occupier are engaging constructively with our investigation,” Head of Regulatory Compliance Tracey Weston says.

“We’re working with the landowner and site occupier, and their planning consultants on a way forward.”

In particular, the container stack closest to the walkway has been moved back from the landscape setback area.

A resource consent has been lodged for departing from some rules for the industrial activity at the site.

“To ensure a comprehensive assessment of the application is undertaken, a decision on the application by a Planning Commissioner is unlikely to be made until next year,” Head of Planning and Consents John Higgins says.

“In the meantime, the applicant has agreed to stop using the landscape setback area as storage for shipping containers until they get resource consent for that use,” he says.

You can find the resource consent here.