Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ decision to end its Mount Maunganui manufacturing operations is an opportunity to reconsider other heavy industries in the area, a marae representative says.

Ballance chief executive Kelvin Wickham says the winding down of manufacturing operations at the Hewletts Rd/State Highway 2 site was “nearly complete” and the final single super phosphate production had already taken place.

“Our final sulphuric acid production will occur this month,” Wickham said.

The farmer-owned fertiliser and nutrients cooperative is transforming the site into a storage and distribution centre, resulting in 60 jobs being cut and six new roles being created.

The Ballance site neighbours Whareroa Marae, and the marae’s residential community on Taiaho Place.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients is winding down its manufacturing operations at its Hewletts Rd, Mount Maunganui site. Photo / NZME

The harbourside marae, built in 1873, is surrounded by Mount Maunganui’s industrial zone, centred on the Port of Tauranga.

Whareroa environmental spokesman Joel Ngātuere said the marae community welcomed Ballance’s decision.

Ngātuere acknowledged the “difficulties and stresses” faced by affected Ballance staff and their families.

“Some of these are our family and friends, so we understand the stress this has created for a number of people.”

However, Ngātuere said Ballance and other heavy industry operators in the Mount Maunganui airshed should “never have been allowed to be positioned on our doorstep” in the first place.

He said this was a “failure of successive councils” and city and regional council leadership.

“We have been working with the [Ballance] chief executive and the chair, who have been keeping us informed of the future direction and some of the strategic positioning of their business.”

The Mount Maunganui industrial zone was declared a polluted airshed in 2019.

“Everybody is fully aware of the longstanding intergenerational harm caused to our community, especially, from air pollution,” Ngātuere said.

A 2023 Toi Te Ora Public Health study found Mount Maunganui’s poor air quality contributed to an estimated 13 extra premature deaths each year.

At a public meeting in Mount Maunganui last year, Toi Te Ora Public Health medical officer of health Dr Jim Miller said poor air quality was a “much bigger health issue” than people realised.

He said the long-term effects included increased risk of strokes, lung cancer and cardiovascular issues.

Ngātuere said, in his view, heavy industry had contributed to the air pollution.

In his opinion, “Ballance and other heavy industry businesses have all contributed to the worsening of the Mount Maunganui peninsula’s polluted industrial airshed.”

Whareroa Marae environmental spokesman Joel Ngatuere. Photo / Alex Cairns

He said Ballance’s decision was an “ideal opportunity’ for other heavy industry operators in the peninsula to investigate options for how they might relocate to a ”fit-for-purpose" industrial zone, such as the new Rangiuru Business Park.

“In doing so, they could increase their productivity, increase jobs and investment in the region, while still maintaining a close relationship with the Port of Tauranga.”

He said this was not about trying to shut down heavy industry businesses in Mount Maunganui.

“It’s about ensuring they are located in the right areas and ensuring those who live, work and play in the Mount Maunganui peninsula can enjoy clear air and not be poisoned from chronic exposure.”

In 2018 the Bay of Plenty Times reported Ballance Agri-Nutrients had spent $8.5 million to improve air quality around its Mount Maunganui fertiliser works, including a better quality of life for the Whareroa Marae community.

The clean-up was among initiatives to crack down on airborne pollutants in the port and Mount industrial area including dust, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and the toxic gas used to fumigate log stacks - methyl bromide.

Complaints about air quality generated from the port and Mount industrial area had soared in previous years.

In response to Ngatuere’s comments, Wickham said Ballance held a consent to discharge to air from the site.

This included discharges from its fertiliser and sulphuric acid manufacturing plants.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients CEO Kelvin Wickham. Photo / Supplied

“As a result of ceasing manufacture, the chimney stacks will be removed over time.”

He said more details about the decommissioning of the manufacturing operations would be revealed at a later date.

Since deciding to cease manufacturing in Mount Maunganui, he said the company had been supporting team members impacted by the decision.

This had included career and job-seeking support and a range of information sessions.

He said that the new roles created – a technical engineering manager, a maintenance supervisor and four site services technicians – were filled by employees whose prior jobs were disestablished.

Five additional staff had been redeployed elsewhere in the business, and some were staying on temporarily to support the site transition and decommissioning work.

Some staff had already left, 12 others were expected to finish up on November 28, and 17 had been offered temporary transition opportunities.

“We remain committed to keeping a presence in Mount Maunganui as a critically strategic location for nutrient supply and distribution through New Zealand’s largest port, the Port of Tauranga, and our national support office,” Wickham said.

Maritime Union of New Zealand regional organiser Graham McKean said about 15 members were affected by the restructure and most had already left.

McKean said many of them had worked for the company for more than 20 years, and some 30-plus years.

“Some members have retired, and others have found alternative employment, including at least one outside of the district,” he said.

McKean said the union was continuing to support the remaining six members at Ballance.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.