The Auckland District Court heard the offending happened at a site on the north side of the Māngere Inlet. Photo / Nick Reed
The Auckland District Court heard the offending happened at a site on the north side of the Māngere Inlet. Photo / Nick Reed
A building business and its director have been fined $87,500 for contamination and illegal land works at an Auckland site where mangroves and trees were removed, rubbish polluted a creek and a seaside cycleway user expressed “horror and sadness” at the level of destruction.
A H Construction Services (AHCSL) anddirector Ajay Narayan Singh were sentenced in the Auckland District Court for breaches of the Resource Management Act at a Te Papapa coastal site near Auckland’s Onehunga.
Five charges were laid and the company was fined $13,600 on each charge totalling $68,000. Singh, convicted of two charges, was fined $9750 on each charge totalling $19,500.
The offending occurred at 69 Captain Springs Rd on partly reclaimed land on the northern side of the Māngere Inlet, used for landfill in the 1970s, Judge David Kirkpatrick wrote in his decision. Judge Kirkpatrick is also the Environment Court’s chief judge.
Landfilling stopped in 1977, and the land was subdivided for development and is zoned business heavy industry.
A large commercial warehouse, old barn structure and big area of exposed earthworks are on the site.
The Waikaraka cycleway and walkway runs between the site and the sea. The public pathway is zoned open space informal recreation.
A complaint about land disturbance there in 2021 resulted in Auckland Council officers inspecting it and finding earthworks on the southern portion, including the levelling of existing stockpiles and tree removal, the decision said.
A significant portion of the site was affected, the judge said.
“Mangroves had been removed and there was concrete dust polluting a creek,” Judge Kirkpatrick said.
The council issued abatement notices, but the work carried on.
This property at 69 Captain Springs Rd was the site where the illegal activity happened. Photo / Google Street View
By 2022, an estimated 25,000sq m of land was affected but in total, 30,986sq m was disturbed by earthworks without any sediment control protection area.
The site had tyres, plastics, metal, brick, crushed concrete and other rubbish as well as asbestos. A silt fence along a southern boundary was inadequate to cope with the height of earthworks.
By March 2023, water laden with sediment flowed from the exposed earthworks area containing general rubbish, plastic bags and household refuse. That material was getting past or through the minimal control devices over the reserve land and into the Māngere Inlet, the decision said.
A cyclist told of damage done to a small creek and surrounding area by the discharges and “expressed her horror and sadness at the level of destruction of the area by the actions of the defendants”.
The company pleaded guilty on five charges and Singh pleaded guilty on two charges - discharging a contaminant and land disturbance.
John Sax has pleaded not guilty, but the case against him and two others has not yet been heard.
The decision noted charges have also been filed against three other defendants who have pleaded not guilty, but are yet to be tried. Those three are:
Frankel Consultants, which owns the site;
Southpark Corporation, which is alleged to have been involved in the management of the site; and
David John Sax, the sole director of Southpark Corporation and a co-director of Frankel Holdings, which owns Frankel Consultants. John Sax said today, via son James, that he had no comment to make on the case.
“These three defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and have not been tried. They have therefore not agreed to the content of these summary of facts on which this sentencing of AHCSL and Mr Singh is based,” the decision said.
Counsel for the Crown said the defendants were careless despite having lengthy earthworks contracting experience, and were both involved in earthworks on the site in 2007 and 2008 when the company was prosecuted for similar offending.
Stephen Corlett, the lawyer representing the company and Singh, accepted that given the previous prosecution in which they were both involved, “they were on notice as to the nature of the site and the consenting issues”.
While they had been careless, this should not be characterised as being highly careless, he said, seeking a discount in sentencing for their co-operation, which he said was important given the involvement of Singh in the ongoing proceedings.
Judge Kirkpatrick said he was advised the company and Singh had insurance for this type of offending.
He convicted the company on all five charges and Singh on both charges, saying money from the fines should be paid to the council as the local authority that had commenced the prosecutions.
A map in an earlier version of this story misidentified the specific site where the illegal earthworks took place.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
