PCR building at Rolleston where 1080 was manufactured. Photo: Supplied / Colliers
The West Coast Regional Council sold its controversial Rolleston 1080 factory last year for $70,000 under valuation, records show.
The sale went through late last year, when the council said it had 'netted' $1.5 million from the deal.
LDR made an official information (LGOIMA) request for more details, after the council's Corporate Services committee discussed a report on the sale behind closed doors, last month.
In a response supplied on Wednesday - one day before council receives its Annual Report - it supplied a copy of the report by Corporate Services Manager Peter Miller, setting out the figures.
It shows the Rolleston property was valued at $2.2 million but sold for $2.13 million in December 2024.
The cost of the sale came to $8340 leaving the council with a loss of $78,340, Miller reported.
The council bought the land and built the factory for $1.9 million in 2014, including $490,000 for a 49 percent shareholding in the lessee's company, Pest Control Research Ltd.
The purchase sparked public protests in 2015 when the Greymouth Star revealed the factory would be producing 1080 bait.
Allan Birchfield who was a member of the council at the time, said it was thought the Rolleston plant could supply poison and pre-feed bait to the council's pest control company, Vector Control Services, more cheaply than its North Island supplier.
"We had a lot of contracts for DOC and Ospri and we were eyeing the market and looking to break that monopoly," he told LDR.
The council lent its tenant $374,000 for a fit out in 2019 but quit its shareholding in the company the following year, retaining ownership of the land and buildings.
PCR paid about $110,000 annually for the lease.
The remaining balance of the fit-out loan was paid in full, in addition to the purchase price when the sale went through, Miller confirmed.
Birchfield said he had been against the sale but was excluded from the Risk and Assurance committee that moved it.
"I thought the property was worth $3 million; I did some comparisons of Rolleston real estate at the time. If they'd waited a bit they'd have got their money."
But committee member Brett Cummings said the council wanted out.
"We weren't making any money out of it, and it was about the risk. If the tenant folded or moved out we could have been stuck with a 1080 factory that no-one wanted and it would have cost the earth to clean the site up. "
The council was still getting contracts for 1080 operations, but that might change in future, Cummings said.
"DOC's got no money, and OSPRI's got rid of bovine TB in a lot of areas, so we could well see a lot less 1080 used. All things considered we were better out of it."
The council's more conventional investments have proved a safer bet: its portfolio of shares and bonds now sits at nearly $15 million, gaining $1.7 million since June 2024.
The fund began as a $7 million government grant in 2000, part of a $120 million compensation package after native logging ended in the region.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
