KEY POINTS:
Rodney District Council is looking for a cheaper and faster solution for coping with sewerage at its northwest growth hot spots.
Councillors have revoked a decision that they made in May, favouring building a treatment plant to serve Kumeu-Huapai, Waimauku and Riverhead.
Now, preparations for getting resource consent for the plant and wetland disposal at Tapu Rd have been put on hold, while council attention swings back to a possible trunk sewer taking waste out of the district.
The change of heart comes after advice from chief executive Rodger Kerr-Newell.
He said engineers from the council and bulk water and waste provider Watercare Services had "cracked a really appropriate solution".
They have revised plans to hook up to a Watercare trunk sewer at Whenuapai, which will be needed for Waitakere City's huge development of Massey North .
The solution, which includes a shorter route, will allow a first-stage cost of $13 million compared with $16.8 million to build a treatment plant.
A first-stage plant would be restricted to 2000 connections but with the Watercare sewer, there is no cap.
"This solution is substantially cheaper than any put forward in the 23 years of consultation," said Mr Kerr-Newell.
He will now negotiate terms and conditions, with the aim of coming back to ratepayers with details of connection and operating costs.
Residents have been worried that connecting to a metropolitan Auckland system would result in losing local control over costs and being charged for a major upgrade of trunk sewers. But a new deal with Watercare could mean they pay no more for wastewater than others in the region.
Northwestern area councillor Suzanne Weld said residents were tired of waiting for a public sewerage system and developers were impatient with restrictions.
"If this is going to be quickest - and at no great expense - then everyone is saying 'go for it'."
