West Coast Regional Council Just Can't Seem to Stop Secretly Aiding Local 1080 Manufacturing Company
November 24, 2022
PHOTO: Supplied / Colliers
The West Coast Regional Council has spent over $370,000 on “specialised improvements” to a 1080 factory building it owns in Rolleston, on the edge of Christchurch.
The council kept secret its $1.9 million investment in the Pest Control Research (PCR) Ltd factory, manufacturing 1080 poison baits, until it was exposed by the Greymouth Star in 2015. The investment sparked widespread controversy on the West Coast.
At the end of 2020 the council quit its shareholding in PCR, but retained ownership of the factory site, which it still leases to PCR.
A new valuation report for the council showed it advanced $374,783 for specialised improvements requested by PCR at the start of the current five-year lease in 2019. The lease ends in January 2025.