Man who bought flooded Pākōwhai land from council for green-waste business Hog Fuel NZ asked to leave a month later

Hog Fuel NZ owner Ross Lamborn says they haven’t been given a chance to prove themselves at their Pākōwhai site.

Ross Lamborn decided to buy land red-zoned after Cyclone Gabrielle from a council in Hawke’s Bay.

Now, just over a month later, he’s been told he has to leave, in a saga causing quite a stink for all involved.

The purchase of Category 3 Pākōwhai land from Hastings District Council looked like a good deal for Lamborn when he signed on the dotted line in December.

The Category 3 land categorisation following destructive floods swamping the small community means it has been deemed as no longer safe for residential living, but certain commercial activities can take place on it.

Lamborn then quickly moved his 4-year-old business Hog Fuel NZ, which turns green waste into energy, from the community of Whakatu across the Clive and Ngāruroro rivers to Pākōwhai.

But just 10 days later, Hastings council says it received “up to 20 complaints” about a bad smell in the area.

Fingers were pointed at Hog Fuel NZ, and a sign then appeared on the main road through the community stating the council had turned Pākōwhai into a “compost heap” by letting Lamborn set up shop.

Hastings District Council now says Hog Fuel NZ’s activities on the land do not comply with Plains Production Zone planning rules.

A spokesperson said officers investigated the situation and an abatement notice was issued which meant “activity subject to the abatement cannot take place on the property until the owner receives appropriate regulatory approvals”.

‘I was a hero, now it seems I’m a villain’

Lamborn says the hatred directed at him has been over the top and claims has been told he has to relocate, which he says will cost him roughly $300,000.

“I feel as if we haven’t been given a chance, and now I’m being rushed out by locals and [the] council,” Lamborn said.

“I’ve tried my best to please everyone. I’ve been the nice guy, but now I’m digging my toes in.

“We will leave, there’s no doubt about that, but the council wants me to move my green waste into a storage spot that has a concrete floor and is full of weeds until we find another site.

“It’s worth a lot of money and can’t just be chucked around like that.”

Lamborn said he started the company in a bid to reduce the amount of orchard burn-off.

His fermented mulch with a Multikraft probiotic, once spread under apple trees or orchard trees, reduces the need for fungicide sprays.

“Our mulch creates its own microbiome in the soil and around the tree and takes over.

“Bad bugs and fungus, like European canker, can’t compete and are taken over. This has been proven overseas already.”

Lamborn said in the four years he had been operating in an industrial area of Whakatu, next door to Freshco, he had never had a complaint about smell.

“We fully disclosed what our intentions for the land were to the council and were in the process of getting resource consent. You can’t get it until you are actually on the land.

“I was a hero then, but now it seems I’m a villain. I didn’t move here to peeve anyone off, but now we are the enemy.”

‘Up in arms since the cyclone’

The Pākōwhai community has been through the wringer since Cyclone Gabrielle struck on February 14, 2023.

Large swathes of the community have since been deemed unsafe for residents to return, and dozens of homes acquired under Category 3 buyouts as a result.

Pākōwhai resident Geoff Downer said the community had been “up in arms since the cyclone” and didn’t need another problem – then Lamborn’s business arrived.

One particular day in late January, there was an easterly and the smell from Hog Fuel NZ was “wicked”, he said.

Geoff Downer put up a sign outside his Pākōwhai Rd property. Photo / Linda Hall

He put a sign up on Pākōwhai Rd outside his property that read: “Council turns Pākōwhai into compost heap”.

“It smelled like rotting material,” he said.

Downer said the sale of a Category 2 property adjacent to the business had fallen through just days short of the settlement date. He claimed it was “because of the odour” from Hog Fuel.

He said Lamborn came to see him as soon as he saw the sign and said he was happy to work with the community.

“I thought that was great and I have looked at it from both sides.”

Lamborn said the bad smell on that particular day was from a truckload of untreated mulch they moved to Pākōwhai from his old site.

“It was a one-off,” he said.

Abused at meeting

A few days later, residents held a community meeting.

“We weren’t invited but Dad and I went along,” Lamborn said. “It got pretty heated.

“I tried to explain that by adding probiotics to our waste, it eliminated any smell, but was told to shut up and sit down.

“While some people were saying, ‘Let them speak’, the meeting was really all about how to get rid of us.”

Lamborn’s father Jack told Hawke’s Bay Today it was the most violent meeting he had ever attended.

“They were calling us f***in g c***s and telling us to leave. We did.”

Downer, who was also at the meeting but did not use those words, said of the Lamborns: “Good on them for showing up.”

“I think they should have been invited.

“But there’s no place for their business in Pākōwhai.”

Onus on purchaser to do their due diligence

Hasting District Council chief executive To’osavili Nigel Bickle said the onus for meeting regulatory requirements sat with prospective purchasers of land, in this case Hog Fuel NZ.

“The registration of interest form provided to interested parties by the estate agents undertaking the disposal of this land for [the] council clearly stated that ‘purchasers will need to complete their own due diligence and seek any relevant consents required for the proposed use’.

In addition, the open market advertisement stated “non-residential uses were allowed subject to the relevant planning rules and obtaining consent from the council if necessary”, Bickle said.

“In considering the purchase of this land, the onus was on the purchaser to do their due diligence and identify whether the land was suitable for their intended purposes, and to seek any relevant consents for activities they intended to undertake there.

“No resource consent was sought by the purchaser as part of the due diligence phase.”

What happens now?

The council says it is working with the Hog Fuel NZ to identify a suitable site for their operations.

It would not be paying to relocate the business, but “to address community concerns, we are assisting with some of the cost of moving the fermented mulch to an alternative site”.

“There will also be some costs associated with helping identify a longer-term location for the business.”

Lamborn says he won’t be rushed off the Pākōwhai property.

“We don’t want to stay where we are hated, but we are going to do it properly, with one move for everything. In the end, everyone wins except us. This will cost us at least $300,000.”

What is hog fuel?

Hog fuel is industrial wood fuel or biomass, made from wood waste or forestry residue, and is considered carbon-neutral because of the offset by new trees planted.

Carbon, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere through decomposition, is captured and utilised to produce energy.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.