Bromley residents say the rollout of Christchurch City Council's support package for those living with the stench from a damaged wastewater plant was "a massive fail".
Bromley wastewater treatment plant Photo: Screenshot / Christchurch City Council
The package was launched yesterday, with over 3000 households told they could get wellbeing and financial support at four different community centres.
Community advocate Stephen McPaike said that was not what happened and described the launch as an utter disaster.
"Some of the hubs were not open, they ran out of the prezzy cards really early in the morning, the communication about what was on offer wasn't going out fast enough and our residents' Facebook page was getting out information faster than what the council could," he said.
Prezzy cards appeared to be the preferred option for households collecting their $200 support payment, to help cover medical appointments and other stench-related costs.
Eligible resident Damian Elley said he overheard community centre staff talking about how they had had to go out and purchase as many prezzy cards as they could from the supermarket - because the council had not delivered any.
"It's just a shambles, an absolute shambles," he said.
"The council have not done anything they said they were going to do. The paperwork's not there, the wellbeing and health checks aren't there, the prezzy cards aren't there, and being Monday, everybody turned up and there were only 85 prezzy cards."
The council's head of community partnerships and planning, Gary Watson, told a community board meeting last night they did not expect so many people to choose that option.
"I underestimated the number of prezzy cards that would be required," he admitted.
"The community groups at the moment are going out and buying as many prezzy cards as they can, but it's looking like 95 to 96 percent of people want a prezzy card."
More cards had been ordered from Auckland and were expected to arrive later this week.
The council had originally said all residents needed to access the funds was proof of address, but Watson said people pinching mail put a stop to that.
"We're now asking for a second form of identification. Over the weekend it became clear on social media that there were some people, from probably out of the area, were going to take advantage of this."
Bromley residents have complained that they were not told about this extra requirement and Watson acknowledged some information booklets were not delivered.
Stephen McPaike said internal communication was not any better - the council only briefed its elected community board members in the worst-affected area last night.
"It's too little too late. Our Facebook page has informed the elected members of the community board more than the council has. And they feel rather upset and a little bit hacked off that they're finding more out from the residents than they do from council."
Businesses in the council designated area had not been offered any form of support and people's health and wellbeing was still not being prioritised, McPaike added.
That had left some residents considering legal action.
"The support package has been a massive fail - the community are up in arms," McPaike said.
"They're calling for a class-action lawsuit. I've suggested a protest as a way of getting the council to open their eyes and listen to the community."
Damian Elley would like to see a different approach taken.
"Create a door-knocking team, go door-to-door and check on the welfare, check on the people and gift them their prezzy card while they're there doing the questionnaire," he explained.
"Then at least we're building a register on the health and welfare of the people."
Christchurch City Council's $1 million package also includes $200,000 going to 23 affected schools and pre-schools, and setting up a health register.
