Move to block waste pipeline

HEB Construction senior project manager Gareth Brown. Photo / George Novak

A legal challenge has been mounted to stop the Tauranga City Council laying its $102 million Southern Pipeline through Matapihi Peninsula.

Tio Faulkner is seeking an injunction from the Maori Land Court which, if successful, would force the council to find another route for the wastewater pipeline on its final leg to Te Maunga.

The Matapihi Rd resident and son of the late Toa Faulkner applied for an injunction to stop civil works for the Southern Pipeline taking place on accesses to Maori land known as Matapihi Rd and an unformed paper road.

Many residents of the largely Maori-owned peninsula are against the pipeline carrying human waste running through their rohe (tribal area), with a community protest planned for 10am on Saturday.

Council's legal and governance manager Kirsty Downey-McGuire said it appeared from the documents filed with the court that there was a question around the legal status of the roads.

She said the council maintained that they were legal roads and work on laying the pipeline along the side of Matapihi Rd would continue while Mr Faulkner's application remained an injunction that had not been granted.

The council contractor - HEB Construction - has so far laid about 350 metres of pipeline along the side of Matapihi Rd.

The unformed paper road will take the pipeline from Matapihi Rd across to SH 29.

Mr Faulkner filed the application on September 17 followed by a judicial conference two days later where the court directed him to serve the papers on the council. Mr Faulkner has until 5pm today to file an affidavit in support of his application. This will allow the council to advise the court of its position at the next judicial conference in Tauranga on Friday.

Ms Downey-McGuire said information filed to support the application was "rather scant on detail".

Mr Faulkner declined to comment when contacted by the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.

The Bay of Plenty Times also asked Justice Department communications spokesman for a copy of the application.

Antony Paltridge responded yesterday that he had forwarded the request to the court registrar who would discuss it with the presiding judge.

Matapihi to Te Maunga section of the Southern Pipeline
Distance: 5.5km
Cost: $8 million
Construction time: One year
Contractor: HEB Construction