13 April 2023
File Ref: OIAPR-1274023063-905
Kris Roestenburg
By email
: [FYI request #22095 email]
Tēnā koe Kris
Request for information 2023-051
I refer to your request for information which was received by Greater Wellington Regional Council
(Greater Wellington) on 14 March 2023. You have requested the following:
1. I'd like a copy of all communications and meeting notes between the GWRC and the following people Christopher Phillip Flavell Hamish Paul Sisson Lincoln Hartley Falconer Kelly Sutton Blair Chalmers Valentin Czibesz And also a copy of all communications between International Waste Ltd otherwise known as Interwaste and
the GWRC. 2. I'd also like to know if anybody within the environmental team or any of the executives at the GWRC have
a special relationship with Christopher Phillip Flavell, Hamish Paul Sisson, Lincoln Hartley Falconer or Kelly
Sutton. 3. Finally, I'd like to know why the GWRC told Worksafe that the emissions which were in breach of the
Discharge Permit coming from Interwaste located at 10 Broken Hill Road is within council spec based on an
annual biofilter report that has no bearing on the emissions coming from this property. Who was responsible
for this and if you're not willing to name anybody what job title was responsible for making this decision?
Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wellington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
Greater Wellington responds to your request as follows:
1.
Correspondence between Greater Wellington and Interwaste
Attachments 1-5 contain the information in scope of this part of your request. We require more time
to prepare these documents for release and they will be sent to you no later than Friday, 21 April
2023.
We have withheld personal identifying information of InterWaste personnel under section 7(2)(a) of
the Local Government Act 1987 (the Act) in order to protect the privacy of natural persons, including
that of deceased natural persons.
We have withheld personal identifying information of Greater Wellington personnel under section
7(2)(f)(ii) of the Act in order to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the protection
of such members, officers, employees, and persons from improper pressure or harassment.
We have withheld some information regarding InterWaste’s commercial activities under section
7(2)(b)(ii) of the Act in order to protect information that would be likely unreasonably to prejudice
the commercial position of InterWaste.
We have also withheld 13 documents in full which are in scope of this part of your request under the
following sections:
• 12 documents are withheld under section 6(a) of the Act as they relate to an active
investigation where the making available of that information would be likely to prejudice the
maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences,
and the right to a fair trial.
• 1 document is withheld under section 7(2)(c)(i) of the Act as this is necessary to protect
information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any person has been or
could been compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the making
available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or
information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such information should
continue to be supplied.
We have considered whether the public interest in the requested information outweighs Greater
Wellington’s need to withhold the above information. We do not consider that the public interest
outweighs Greater Wellington’s reason for withholding the information under the grounds identified
above.
2.
I'd also like to know if anybody within the environmental team or any of the executives at the
GWRC have a special relationship with Christopher Phillip Flavell, Hamish Paul Sisson, Lincoln
Hartley Falconer or Kelly Sutton.
We have defined “special relationship” as that being one other than a professional working
relationship.
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Greater Wellington records show no person in the environmental team or any of the Executive
Leadership Team having a special relationship with those individuals at Interwaste.
3.
Finally I'd like to know why the GWRC told Worksafe that the emissions which were in breach
of the Discharge Permit coming from Interwaste located at 10 Broken Hill Road is within council
spec based on an annual biofilter report that has no bearing on the emissions coming from this
property. Who was responsible for this and if you're not willing to name anybody what job title
was responsible for making this decision?
Greater Wellington has no records of this conversation occurring. We are therefore refusing this part
of your request under section 17(g) of the Act on the basis that the information requested is not held
by Greater Wellington and we have nor grounds for believing that the information is held by another
local authority or a department of Minister of the Crown or organisation.
However, in 2021 the site’s compliance officer reported an incident to WorkSafe after conducting a
site visit and having concerns about the exposure of site workers to formaldehyde.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information requests
where possible. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater Wellington’s
website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Al Cross
Kaiwhakahaere Matua mo te Taiao| General Manager, Environment Management
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