Residents affected by the stench of poo wafting from the city’s fire-damaged wastewater plant in Christchurch will get $200 “to help deal with the impacts of the fire”.

A financial support package for about 3300 households affected by the stench from the plant in Bromley was approved by the Christchurch City Council on Thursday.

Each household will be eligible for about $200 each, with some flexibility on the exact amount on a case-by-case basis.

But some residents say $200 is not enough, with one woman saying the air purifier they wanted the council to pay for cost them $295.

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The aid is only available to about 3300 selected households at this stage, mostly in Bromley.

Still, city councillors have instructed staff to review the boundaries and produce advice on whether other affected areas, such as South New Brighton and Southshore, can be included.

Meanwhile, councillors have also agreed to work with health authorities to establish a register of residents suffering health effects and set up a group of community representatives to meet regularly with council staff.

The council has $1m set aside for its financial aid and this will be funded from a predicted surplus.

Of the $1m, $800,000 will be split between the residents “to help deal with the impacts of the fire”, with the other $200,000 going towards another support package for over 20 schools and early learning centres in the city’s east.

The funds will be available from May 30 from four community organisations: the Bromley Community Centre, The Loft in Eastgate Mall, the Ngā Hau E Whā marae on Pages Rd and He Waka Tapu, also on Pages Rd.

To access the money, residents have to go to one of the four organisations and provide proof of their address and fill out a questionnaire, council community partnerships and planning manager Gary Watson said.

“We’re really trying to make it as easy as we can,” he said.

Prezzy Cards were being looked at as one option, so residents had flexibility with what the $200 is spent on.

Anyone living in the area bordered by Buckleys Rd, Pages Rd, State Highway 74 and Linwood Ave are eligible. Others will only be considered under exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Businesses are not included.

Bromley resident Vickie Walker said she bought an air purifier to battle the smell which cost $295.

“I’m not happy about it,” she said.

“To take a family to the doctors is about $200, so that’s one visit, what about their prescriptions, what about their air purifier, what about the extra power they are going to use?”

Resident Caleb Saunderson said the $200 felt like hush money.

“They’ve really messed up on this,” he said.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s an absolute insult.”

Saunderson said he wanted a dryer for his clothes, a filter for his DVS system, and an air purifier.

“I can’t get that with $200,” he said.

Paul Durie – who lives with the stench in South New Brighton, meaning he is not eligible for the $200 – said he was pleased councillors asked about extending the boundaries to communities like his, but he still felt it was not listened to.

“$200 would mean nothing to me if I could get it,” he said.

Durie thought it would not cover the extra extractor fans he had purchased or the extra power he had used.

He wanted the council to provide appliance vouchers to cover costs of new appliances and power rebates at a minimum of $100.

During Thursday’s meeting, councillors were briefed on the latest progress to address the smell.

Staff are on-track with prep work to remove the stinky fire-damaged material left at the wastewater plant.

Work to remove it is scheduled to start on June 6, though a trial removal was likely to happen in the days beforehand.

Staff also said a proper recovery plan for the plant would be published within the next two weeks.