Waste incineration plant proposal, 401 Racecourse Road, Te Awamutu
Council's submission to the Board of Inquiry
The Council has lodged a submission to the Board of Inquiry which will decide on the proposal next year.
An application has been received to build a waste to energy plant at 401 Racecourse Road, Te Awamutu. The proposed plant will incinerate 150,000 tonnes of rubbish annually which will be used to generate electric power. Formal documents, including the full application, are listed in the drop-down section below.
Following a request by Waikato Regional Council and Waipā District Council, the Minister for the Environment has directed that the decision making on the resource consent applications be referred to a Board of Inquiry, due to it being considered an issue of ‘national significance’.
The Board has until early August 2025 to consider submissions, hold a hearing and issue its decision.
All previous submissions made to the Councils will be considered by the Board of Inquiry – they do not need to be re-lodged and all previous requests to speak at the hearing will be taken on board.
Board of Inquiry
In her decision to call the application in and direct to a Board of Inquiry, the Minister for the Environment agreed the proposal was of national significance, as it “has aroused widespread public concern due to its actual or likely effect on the environment”, and because the proposed technology and processes are new to New Zealand.
A Board of Inquiry has nine months following this direction to hold a hearing and make the final decision, independent from the Minister and the Environmental Protection Authority. The authority provides administrative support to the board, including managing the public submission process.
Judge Bryan Dwyer of the Environment Court has been appointed chair of the board by the Minister. Joining him are experienced air quality specialist Myles McCauley, and accredited Resource Management Act hearings commissioner Nicholas Manukau (Waikato-Tainui), who has a background in fisheries management and aquaculture.
The board will consider the application documents, information provided by the Waipā District and Waikato Regional Councils, all submissions including those previously made to the Councils, expert evidence, and all views and evidence presented at the hearing.
Both Councils have been asked to prepare ‘key interest reports’ about areas to be assessed further. These have been made available on the Environmental Protection Authority website.
Council submissions closed
Waipā District Council public submissions opened on Thursday, September 14, 2023 and closed on Friday, October 13, 2023. These submissions will all be automatically considered by the Board of Inquiry, as will any submissions lodged with the Waikato Regional Council. All previous requests to speak at the hearing will be taken on board.
Thank you for the submissions received, these can be viewed in the drop-down section below.
Frequently asked questions
We’ve developed some frequently asked questions for this notified resource consent.
Documentation
Submissions
Waipā District Council received 874 submissions on this proposal. For ease of use, all submissions are listed below, in alphabetical order, based on Surname or name of the organisation.
Please note that, in line with our obligations under the Privacy Act 2020, there is a privacy statement on every submission form. This statement makes it clear that all the information provided in the submission may be made available to the public, on our website. This is not unusual. The practice of publishing full submissions on resource consent applications of interest is consistent with the practices of many other councils.
- List of submitters in surname order (PDF, 3.7MB)
- Submissions - A (PDF, 64.1MB)
- Submissions - B, Part 1 (PDF, 65.6MB)
- Submissions - B, Part 2 (PDF, 80.7MB)
- Submissions - C, Part 1 (PDF, 66.7MB)
- Submissions - C, Part 2 (PDF, 69.7MB)
- Submissions - D (PDF, 55.5MB)
- Submissions - E (PDF, 66.9MB)
- Submissions - F (PDF, 58.5MB)
- Submissions - G (PDF, 89MB)
- Submissions - H, Part 1 (PDF, 43.8MB)
- Submissions - H, Part 2 (PDF, 65.6MB)
- Submissions - I (PDF, 7.7MB)
- Submissions - J (PDF, 35MB)
- Submissions - K (PDF, 47.9MB)
- Submissions - L (PDF, 59.5MB)
- Submissions - Late (PDF, 57.9MB)
- Submissions - M, Part 1 (PDF, 51MB)
- Submissions - M, Part 2 (PDF, 67.4MB)
- Submissions - M, Part 3 (PDF, 67.4MB)
- Submissions - N (PDF, 20.9MB)
- Submissions - O (PDF, 24.5MB)
- Submissions - P, Part 1 (PDF, 53.1MB)
- Submissions - P, Part 2 (PDF, 46.1MB)
- Submissions - Q (PDF, 4.4MB)
- Submissions - R (PDF, 59.4MB)
- Submissions - S, Part 1 (PDF, 57.4MB)
- Submissions - S, Part 2 (PDF, 48.5MB)
- Submissions - T, Part 1 (PDF, 63.1MB)
- Submissions - T, Part 2 (PDF, 45MB)
- Submissions - U (PDF, 2.2MB)
- Submissions - V (PDF, 33.3MB)
- Submissions - W, Part 1 (PDF, 57.2MB)
- Submissions - W, Part 2 (PDF, 67.6MB)
- Submissions - X (PDF, 34.1MB)
- Submissions - Y (PDF, 12.3MB)
- Submissions - Z (PDF, 33.4MB)
Notification documents
Ministerial Direction under section 142 RMA
Public notice - Submissions close Friday 13 October 2023.
Full application
- Appendix 1 - Records of Title
- Appendix 10 - Hail Assessment
- Appendix 11 - Hazardous Facilities Screening Procedure Assessment
- Appendix 12 - Landscaping Plans
- Appendix 13 - Infrastructure Assessment Report
- Appendix 14 - WRPS General Development Principles
- Appendix 15 - BERL Waste to Energy Review November 2019
- Appendix 16 - Air Quality Assessment
- Appendix 17 - Acoustic Assessment
- Appendix 18 - Architectural Design Statement
- Appendix 19 - Flooding Assessment
- Appendix 2 - Application Drawings
- Appendix 20 - Economic Impact Assessment
- Appendix 21 - Integrated Transportation Assessment
- Appendix 22 - Pre-application meeting notes
- Appendix 23 - Letters of support
- Appendix 24 - Front entrance acoustic barrier location and recession plane
- Appendix 3 - District Plan Rules Assessment
- Appendix 4 - District Plan Assessment Criteria
- Appendix 5 - Waikato Regional Policy Statement Objectives & Policies
- Appendix 6 - Waipā District Objectives & Policies
- Appendix 7 - National Environmental Standard for Air Quality
- Appendix 8 - Site Suitability Assessment
- Appendix 9 - Site Selection Process
Additional documents
- Advice and Recommendation of the Environmental Protection Authority - 11 April 2024 (PDF, 2.7MB)
- Applicant view on s142 RMA Ministerial call-in (PDF, 1.1MB)
- Further advice to the Minster for the Environment from the Environmental Protection Agency - May 7 2024 (PDF, 731KB)
- Further information request - October 2023 (PDF, 494.6KB)
- Global Contracting Post Submissions Section 92 (PDF, 566.3KB)
- Global Contracting Solutions Notification Decision (PDF, 2.2MB)
- Information Requested for Section 92 Acoustic Review LU 0323 21 (PDF, 304.2KB)
- Information Requested for Section 92 or 88 LU 0323 21 515837 (PDF, 1.9MB)
- Letter from the Environmental Protection Authority seeking WDC views regarding call in - March 2024 (PDF, 106.3KB)
- Ministerial Direction under section 142 RMA.pdf (PDF, 209.3KB)
- Section 92 Response to Request for Information (PDF, 14.9MB)
- Waipā District Council's response to the Environmental Protection Authority - 5 April 2024 (PDF, 223.3KB)
Pre-notification supplementary
- Appendix A - T Brady Air Sections Further Information August 2023 - superseded
- Appendix A - T Brady Air Sections Further Information September 2023
- Appendix B - GCS pre-sorting and OTNOC comment
- Appendix C - Hydrogeology Assessment August 2023
- Appendix D - Golovin - Coloured flood level contours maps
- Appendix E - Landscape and Visual Assessment Report August 2023
- Appendix F -Hazardous Substances Review August 2023
- Pre-Notification Supplement Cover Letter
Media Releases
- Council stands strong against waste-to-energy plant proposal, 19 December 2024.
- Waipā District Council to submit on waste to energy plant, 20 November 2024.
- Waste to energy plant proposal to go to Board of Inquiry, 7 November 2024.
- EPA supports ministerial 'call-in' of waste to energy plant, 29 April 2024.
- Council asks Minister to ‘call in’ waste to energy proposal, 7 February 2024.
- Waste incineration decision likely next year, 31 October 2023.
- Close to 900 submissions on waste incineration proposal, 16 October 2023.
- Submissions on proposed waste to energy plant open, 11 September 2023.
- Waste to energy plant application live, 29 August 2023.
- Public to have say on waste to energy plant, 29 September 2022.
