Sawmill Workers Against Poisons (SWAP), a long-standing advocacy group focused on contamination issues linked to the former Whakatāne Mill, is questioning why it was not consulted before construction began on a new petrol station on Phoenix Drive in The Hub Whakatāne retail precinct, arguing the site’s history of contamination warranted broader community engagement.
The development is being built on land that once formed part of the former Whakatāne Mill at Pūpūaruhe, where timber treatment chemicals were used for decades.
SWAP spokesperson Kereama Akuhata said he was blindsided by the development, learning about it only after earthworks had already begun.
“I was disgusted,” he said.
“The way I found out about it was a whānaunga, a local who called me and said there was a big hole dug at the old sawmill site. I just gasped.“
Akuhata said SWAP’s concerns were not about opposing development itself, but about ensuring communities with lived experience of contamination are involved before work begins on historically contaminated land.
The former Whakatāne Mill used chemicals including pentachlorophenol (PCP) to treat timber from the 1950s. Historical investigations have identified contamination associated with those operations, including the presence of dioxins in parts of the site.
While soil testing has been undertaken as part of the consenting process, Akuhata remains concerned about the disturbance of contaminated soils.
“They did the tests and found small parcels of dioxins in different parts of the site,” he said.
“Dioxins are known to be cancer-causing. Across the road, we have Hokowhitu Marae. The family over there had suffered many cancers, prostate cancer, multiple myeloma and that’s generational.”
Akuhata said the experience had prompted SWAP to push for formal consultation processes to prevent similar situations in the future.
“The horse has already bolted, but I want to concentrate on the other 36 contaminated sites in Whakatāne alone,” he said.
“Our community is well acknowledged about these contaminated sites, so they should be in the frame of having a conversation and consultation with them.“
Whakatāne Mayor Nándor Tánczos said he had expected SWAP to have been involved.
“I had thought that the Regional Council, which regulates any disturbance of contaminated soils, does usually talk to SWAP when this kind of work is planned. I don’t know what happened in this instance,” he said.
“I will say that SWAP is an important community organisation with a lot of expertise, both in terms of technical understanding and with the lived experience of whānau impacted by contamination from these very persistent and highly toxic compounds.
“It’s really important to talk to and listen to them when dealing with contaminated soils.“
Bay of Plenty Regional Council Consents Manager Ella Tennent said both Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Whakatāne District Council had granted the necessary consents for activities associated with the site.
She said the Regional Council approved the earthworks under resource consent RM25-0684, which included consultation with tangata whenua.
“The disturbance of contaminated land is managed in accordance with a Contaminated Soils Management Plan, which is required as a condition of the consent,” Tennent said.
The plan sets out procedures for handling contaminated soil, including its transport to Hampton Downs, south of Auckland.
The approach differs from the nearby Kōpeopeo Canal remediation project, where SWAP and Ngāti Awa worked alongside scientists and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and successfully advocated for contaminated sediment to be treated within the rohe using bioremediation techniques that later became conditions of the project’s resource consent.
The group has spent decades advocating for former sawmill workers and their whānau affected by contamination linked to historic timber treatment chemicals.
Akuhata believes SWAP has demonstrated why community groups with specialist knowledge and lived experience should be engaged from the outset whenever development is proposed on historically contaminated land.
He is now preparing a memorandum of understanding to present to both councils, which he hopes will establish a formal process for notifying and engaging with community organisations such as SWAP before work begins on sites known or suspected to be contaminated.
Nā Herewini Waikato rāua ko Piripi Taylor nō Pūkāea
