CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY APRIL 30, 2026
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APRIL 30, 2026
‘Trucks and dirt’ fear By Michelle Lachmann
Residents want more action and enforcement before Cambridge turns into “the town of trucks and dust”, a community board meeting heard last week. “We are living with clouds of dust all around our home. My wife is coughing in bed every night before she goes to sleep. She has asthma, but this is unacceptable,” resident Andy Marsden said at a Cambridge Community Board meeting. Marsden was among a handful of residents who spoke at the meeting about the ResourceCo demolition waste recycling facility on Cambridge Road and Aspin Road Quarry. Waipā mayor Mike Pettit and deputy mayor Jo Davies-Colley also attended the three-hour community board meeting. Residents packed the public forum and also raised concerns about public safety and noise from increasing heavy truck movements in town. “Cambridge will no longer be known as the town of trees and champions, but it will be the town of trucks and dust,” Cambridge resident Maree Blakey said. She cited dust issues and traffic movements near Aspin Road Quarry. She believed there were more than 100 trucks a day associated with the quarry. Residents also criticised the level of enforcement by Waipā District Council. Council growth and regulatory services manager Wayne Allan told the meeting he was concerned
to hear complaints and would follow up on the issue. Enforcement staff had responded to residents’ complaints about the two sites, and had carried out monitoring at both sites. “I’ve had staff sitting in cars on the side of the road counting trucks,” he said. The district council issued an abatement and two infringement notices to the Aspin Road quarry operator in August 2025. It had also visited the ResourceCo site at 3831 Cambridge Road 13 times, as of last week, and would continue on-going monitoring, he said.
Allan told the meeting residents’ complaints about the two sites would be a priority for compliance staff. Council would continue working closely with Blakey and other residents at the Aspin Road quarry and the ResourceCo site. However, Kaipaki Road resident Tam Hankinson said she had made numerous complaints to council about the ResourceCo operation, and felt they had not been acted on. Dust blowing from the nearby ResourceCo site to her home, inside and out, was horrific. “I’ve made many complaints
through the (council’s) online portal, but nothing has been done. The excess dust is a serious health risk. We live in a rural area, and a lot of people are on tank water. I have a vegetable garden that I regularly eat from. After wiping away the dust it’s back within an hour, and midges are attached to the dust.” Her swimming pool could not be used because - “it looks like someone has poured sand into our pool”. Neighbours Marsden and Hankinson were further concerned
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Andy Marsden is concerned about truck traffic and excess dust from the RecourceCo facility. Photo: Michelle Lachmann
Past and present Anzac ceremonies throughout Waipa and the Northern King Country underlined the importance communities in the Good Local Media circulation area continue to place on the service men and women who have protected the nation for more than a century. Hundreds attended dawn and civic services in Waipā and hundreds more marked Anzac Day at in-house services. Speakers noted ongoing conflict and Cambridge RSA chaplain Ants Hawes told the dawn service in Cambridge “war is just that little bit more real all of a sudden, isn’t it?” While acknowledging the past, services also acknowledged the present - in Te Awamutu
Anna Swney, head student at Te Awamutu College spoke of the Anzac spirit and the importance of keeping it alive and learning the stories. In Te Kūiti former Te Kūiti High School student Sergeant Michelle Paterson, a 14-year army veteran spoke of her pride in serving and her gratitude “for those who went before us and their sacrifice, and conscious of the responsibility we carry because of their sacrifice”. • Today’s News includes further Anzac stories on pages 2 and 3 - and you will find regional coverage on line, at goodlocal.nz PICTURED RIGHT: St John youth member Evaleigh Anderson checks her salute is right as she looks up to Emma Barrett. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
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