The contaminated Bentley St gasworks site in Masterton has sold, and the successful bidders intend to remediate the soil and build a church.
Masterton District Council did not confirm the successful bidders’ identity but said they had committed to healing the land.
Masterton District Council [MDC] listed the 2.35-hectare section in October.
MDC spokesperson Corin Haines said the site had significance to Rangitane o Wairarapa and the environmental group Sustainable Wairarapa.
“Healing the land was important to Rangitane, and remediation was always going to be a primary consideration for council given the land’s previous use and the levels of contaminants in the soil,” Haines said
Rangintane o Wairarapa Trust deputy chair Amber Craig said whanau from the Bentley St area donated the land to the Masterton community in the 19th Century to build a school.
Sustainable Wairarapa has been replanting the banks of the Makakaweka stream for several years.
Haines said the purchaser signalled they intended to remediate the land and demolish its existing buildings before constructing a church and two to three modern commercial buildings.
Members of Sustainable Wairarapa said remediating the contaminated soil would be expensive because if they dug it up, they would need to truck it over to Wellington to a tip that takes toxic material.
They said concreting over the soil would not stop the contamination from moving off-site in the groundwater.
Sustainable Wairarapa member and neighbour to the site Kirsten Browne has been involved with the replanting project since its beginning.
“I don’t think our community has had a conversation about the value of this land.
“It was public land, so it belonged to all of us.
“Although it was contaminated, it had massive potential as an asset to our community, and I think the council has treated it as a liability.
“The new owner will build a church and some commercial buildings there, but I hope they do right by the rest of the site because it is an important piece of whenua [land] in the context of this town,” Browne said.
The Bentley St site was approved for sale in a council vote. The final settlement is due in May 2023.
