Rural Canterbury residents seek end to gravel haulage truck nightmare

Residents of a rural North Canterbury town plagued by gravel haulage trucks ripping up the roads hope their nightmare will soon be over.

Clarkville residents Leonie Ward and Sarah Manning called on the Waimakariri District Council to take action against trucks using their small, rural roads during a presentation to councillors on Tuesday, October 6.

Trucks hauling gravel from the north bank of the Waimakariri to support the initial works for the Woodend Bypass, and other projects, have been following a route which includes Baynons, Heywards and South Eyre roads at Clarkville.

Ms Manning said the roads were too narrow and intersections too small for large truck and trailer units.

The massive vehicles were forcing cars off the road and creating noise, dust, and safety concerns for residents, as well as causing considerable damage to roads.

"We were getting up to 220 trucks a day from 7am in the morning, until 5pm in the evening.

"We have houses close to the road and the dust, noise and disturbance has to be seen to be believed."

Councillors backed a recommendation, from the council-appointed gravel haulage reference group, to work with Environment Canterbury (ECan) on a permanent solution.

The fix would likely involve redeveloping the old haulage route through the Waimakariri Regional Park, Hays Road, Wrights Road and Old Main North Road.

Mayor Dan Gordon will also write to the operators asking them to agree to a moratorium on using Heywards and Baynons roads, and other sensitive roads.

ECan issued a new consent in August to gravel extraction company SOL Screening and Crushing, which requires trucks to access the north bank via Diversion Road, and prohibiting access via Baynons Road.

But it was a voluntary condition requested by SOL, and Mr Gordon said a more permanent solution was needed.

"There is nothing to stop contractors from using Heywards Road, so we want to have a moratorium until we have had the conversations and can get something more permanent in place."

Another Clarkville resident Kevin Belcher called on the council to reduce the speed limit on South Eyre and Heywards roads from 100kph to 80kph.

The required upgrades to the old haulage route was estimated to cost between $1m and $1.7m and would need to be considered as part of next year's council Long Term Plans.

Other options, including upgrading the existing local-road options or establishing a dedicated route over private land would likely cost between $4.5m and $8.8m, a council report says.

The gravel extraction sites were chosen by ECan to mitigate flood risk.

At present 12 companies hold 17 consents to extract gravel from the river, totaling 3.725 million cubic metres.

Around 1.255 million cubic metres has already been extracted, leaving around 2.47 million cubic metres still to be extracted, subject to consent conditions such as minimum bed levels.