Regional Landfill
In April 2012 Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council agreed to a Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan.
That Plan included a goal to jointly make the most effective and efficient use of the Councils’ respective landfills, York Valley and Eves Valley. Investigation showed, in the first instance, joint use of Nelson’s York Valley landfill was the most cost-effective approach and this was consulted on in 2014. At that stage, it was expected the joint landfill would become operational in 2016/17.
Since then, further work on the project has resulted in a proposal for the two landfills to be combined under a joint venture model, with each Council having a 50% share. Both Councils agreed to a valuation of each landfill operation. This was peer reviewed and submitted to both Councils in February 2016.
Nelson City Council believes the Valuation Report and the Peer Review Report are robust and give a good indication of the value of each Council’s landfilling operations over the next 45 years and figure arrived at is fair.
The Valuation Report showed that Nelson’s landfill has a higher value due to available space under the resource consent. Consequently, it was agreed by both Councils that to establish the 50:50 share in the landfill operations, Tasman District Council would make a $4.2million balancing payment to Nelson City Council.
The joint entity will use a model similar to the Nelson Regional Sewerage Business Unit which has looked after both Councils’ interests successfully for the past 15 years. It is proposed that the new arrangement would become operational from 1 July 2017.