Gore District Council

Commissioners approve variations to briquetting plant land use consent

Gore District Council-appointed hearing commissioners have approved an application from Solid Energy to make changes to the site layout of its briquetting plant.

In their written decision, released this week, commissioners David Pullar and David Whitney have signed off on changes to the layout of the site, the location of the entrance and exit, and the earth bund and fencing.

In its application Solid Energy submitted that changes to the bund and fencing, around the periphery of the site in Craig Road, were possible because noise reduction measures on plant machinery had resulted in less reliance on the bund to cut noise from the site.

The bund has been reduced in height and base width but would be wider at the top, while the original solid wooden fence would be replaced by a two metre high shade cloth fence with wire on top.

Changes to the site layout involve shifting the plant’s control room from the west of the drier to the east and inclusion in the plans of the boiler’s feed conveyor, which had been omitted from the original plan.

The commissioners found the changes requested by Solid Energy did not alter the actual and potential effects of the activity granted consent in June last year.

They determined that the changes to the entrance and exit would, in fact, have a positive effect on traffic flow and the environment.

Approval was subject to two new conditions and an amendment to an existing condition.

Solid Energy’s briquetting plant was presently under construction on industrial zoned land, near State Highway One, just south of Mataura.

It would produce about 90,000 tonnes of briquettes per annum from approximately 148,000 tonnes of lignite, sourced from the company’s New Vale mine, at Waimumu.
 

Commissioners' decision (217KB, PDF)