PM Key’s Capital home sits on toxic property
Oct 19th, 2009 | By Vaughan Elder | Category: Latest News, News
PREMIER HOUSE: Sits on former petrol station.
PREMIER House – the official residence of Prime Minister John Key – is on the official register of contaminated Wellington properties.
The register, published by the Dominion Post after the Ombudsman ruled it was in the interests of public safety, shows the site at 260 Tinakori Rd has a verified history of hazardous activity.
It was previously the site of a petrol station, according to the register.
The property – where John Key stays while on business in Wellington – is listed as being potentially contaminated by toxins.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Prime Minister says the property was included on the register because it previously had an underground diesel storage tank on it.
The tank, which was used to heat a glasshouse, was removed in 1997. “All fill and ground water was removed and replaced with clean fill,” the statement reads. No further action is likely.
The PM’s is one of more 1700 properties on the Wellington list held by Greater Wellington Regional Council.
The list has a “worst contaminated” register of 34 hazardous sites, including the car park at Kilbirnie Pak’n’Save supermarket, which harbours hydrocarbons left over from an old petrol station.
The worst contaminated category, according to the council, means levels of toxic substances may exceed guidelines and are likely to have negative effects on human health or the environment.
KILBIRNIE PAK N SAVE: Carpark covers land contaminated by leaky petrol station tank.
The sites show traces of dangerous chemicals ranging from hydrocarbons to DDT and cyanide.
Ted Taylor, regional council environmental monitoring and investigations manager, says one of the petrol tanks at the Kilbirnie property was found to have holes in it when it was removed.
When the car park was put in, some of the contaminated soil was removed, but some still remains.
Mr Taylor says there is no immediate threat to human health or the environment because the soil is now covered by concrete.
“The owners have a management plan and at present there is no required action for the owners, unless they were going to put a new building there.”
The council’s environment spokesman, Matt Velde, says toxic hydrocarbons left over from the diesel and petrol used in service stations can leak from sites and into the ground.
Mr Taylor says the main issue may be when people start digging or excavating.
There can be a potential environmental risk if the hydrocarbons are moved off site, but the possibility of this happening is low.
Foodstuffs Wellington property manager Wayne O’Styke says his understanding is their Kilbirnie site meets Wellington City Council and regional council standards.
He says a lot of soil was removed from the site and he cannot understand why it is included on the list.
Other “worst category” Wellington City sites are in the central business district, Seatoun, Miramar, Newtown, Strathmore Park and Johnsonville.
Euan Murrell, Wellington president of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, understands it is the present owners’ responsibility to clean up contaminated sites.
Property values may be affected, as some people could be put off buying contaminated properties.
More than 70 sites around the greater Wellington region have been classified as being likely to be either dangerous to humans or the environment.
Check the full lists here:
South Wairarapa District Council
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