Bromley wastewater plant report: Residents want 'real compensation'

Locals who live next to Christchurch's fire-damaged Bromley wastewater treatment plant say they are not surprised by a damning report into the council's management of the foul stench it gave off.

A leaked independent report has painted a grim picture of Christchurch City Council, which largely refused to acknowledge the extent of the horrid odour until five months after the November 2021 fire.

The smell was so bad it made people in the surrounding suburbs sick, stained their homes black and corroded the metal on their cars.

Related:

• Fire breaks out at Christchurch wastewater plant
• 'Sickening, foul' stench from Christchurch wastewater plant angers residents
• Bromley wastewater plant: Report shows stench likely caused paint discolouration

Shortland Street neighbours the wastewater treatment plant and those who lived there said the stench had made their lives hell.

"The kids live in cabins in the backyard, they'd wake up in the night vomiting, they were sick. Tyler would have constant headaches. He'd be sick and off work - many, many hours have been lost because we were sick off work. That's another loss. Not to count the power bill from drying washing inside because we couldn't dry it on the line," one said.

"It's just gutting because this was a starter home for us. Now it's like do we really want to sell it because we don't know if we'll make much money off it. The summer before the fire, I built a great big deck out the back, looking forward to having barbecues, but now we're too ashamed to have our friends around for a barbecue. You don't want to be smelling that while you're trying to eat," another said.

Chrome castings on cars were eaten away - including those on a brand new ute - and the rancid stench was now permanently embedded into the interior of cars.

No council staff had come to these people's homes to check up on them since the fire nearly two years ago.

The report said "the terrible smell finally abated" in September 2022, but those on Shortland Street say it has never gone away.

Aerators had been temporarily installed for five years, but stopped working this week, sending the stench permeating over the fence again.

"So as soon as that breaks down, it's straight back to the smell," one person said.

Christchurch City Council acting chief executive Mary Richardson said the insurance company had now accepted a claim, which had been holding up work on a permanent solution.

Council and the insurance company were "urgently" working towards a final fix, with extra time and money being put into the next steps, she said.

Many of those RNZ spoke to today said it felt like the eastern suburbs of the city were not cared for, echoing the report's findings.

They had no reason to believe change would happen, said Janet Profit, who has called Shortland Street home for decades.

The plant loomed just a stone's throw from her garden fence.

"[The council] really don't care about this area, and there's so many of us here, facing those domes all the time and smelling the ponds. It's unbelievable what the council have let go here," she said.

The report also found the council failed to set up an incident management team for the fire, despite setting them up for the 2019 terror attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Richardson said it had taken the findings on the chin and a uniform incident management training would be given to staff.

"We apologise for not getting this right up front. We are committed to improving that relationship [with the East] and we're appreciative [of] the fact that they are still prepared to engage with us and hopefully trust us to rebuild that relationship with them," she said.

Some changes had already been made - including the process for their Action Plan in response to the report, Richardson said.

"We have learnt, we are taking the advice of the community and our partners and we are actually reworking that response plan, rather than just charging ahead with what we think is right, we are actually listening to the community and reworking that."

It was hoped the new draft Action Plan would go out for further consultation next week.

But the plant's neighbours said it would take more than a plan to start earning the community's trust.

"Nah, it'll be the same. The smell was still here yesterday. We don't know what's happening with the plant, they haven't given us any updates since last year - is it going to be rebuilt? What are they going to do with it?" said one.

Shortland Street residents had plenty of ideas for what the council could do now to begin making amends.

"I know it was an accident, it wasn't done on purpose. But how many years has it been and it's still sitting there? Okay, they're not using it, but get rid of it. You wouldn't have that in Merivale, would you?" one neighbour said.

"Some sort of real compensation, not just a $200 gift voucher. That just felt like an insult," another said.

Rates reductions were wanted by some too.

That was not something the council had been considering at this stage, Richardson said.

She also could not say why Jane Davis, the council's former general manager of infrastructure, planning and regulatory services, and Helen Beaumont, former head of Three Waters, were unable to be interviewed as part of the independent report.

Both left the council earlier in 2023.