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Embattled MP Taito Phillip Field is under new scrutiny - this time for an apparent breach of building regulations at one of his properties.
Manukau City Council officers have identified unauthorised alterations at one of several properties currently and previously owned by Field and his wife, Maxine. They
recommended prosecution to council members in a confidential meeting last week, but the outcome of that meeting remains secret.
Now the council says it will widen its inquiries after checks by the Herald on Sunday on other properties currently or previously connected to Field. There appear to be questions over three of them.
The council moves follow allegations that Field took money from constituents and gave immigration assistance to Asian overstayers in return for cheap labour.
Police have investigated and have handed the result of their work to the Crown Law Office, which will decide whether the case should go to court.
In the meantime, Field is now an independent MP after the Labour Party expelled him last month.
The latest trouble for Field comes after a council officer visited a property in Alexander Ave in Papatoetoe and heard the sound of construction coming from a neighbouring property.
The officer peered over the fence to 32 Alexander Ave - owned by Field - and saw alterations being made to the house.
Further investigation revealed that the construction, converting the garage to a sleepout and extending the carport, was being done without any form of council approval.
A letter was sent to Field on December 22 threatening prosecution if the proper consents were not sought.
This was followed by a report by a council officer to a confidential hearings committee meeting last Tuesday. The agenda for the meeting records only: "Unconsented building works - Confidential - Not for publication."
A search of council records reveals plans which show the garage and not a sleepout.
The records also show that a Certificate of Acceptance was applied for for the alteration work on February 14 to "convert a garage into a bedroom" and a carport to a garage. Manukau City Council environment director Ree Anderson said the council would not comment on any potential prosecutions until they were heard in court.
"We are really concerned to hear of any potential unconsented work in the city and will be investigating.
"The council investigates any cases that come to our attention, through a complaint from the public or in another way.
"It doesn't matter who the complaint is about, we investigate and follow the same process for all cases where someone may not be following the regulations of the Building Act."
Inquiries by the Herald on Sunday have raised questions over alterations carried out to houses currently or previously owned by Field - including his own home.
A house in Julian Place in Otara, now owned by Housing New Zealand, has building consents issued but no final inspection certificate.
It also has a sleepout-style rumpus room which does not appear to match permits issued for a garage and a boatshed. Field said he hadn't owned the house for 10 years. "That property was purchased as it was.
"If there is non-compliance, there is non-compliance. There are hundreds of buildings like that."
Field told the Herald on Sunday that the issue was a case of "media persecution".
"If there is an issue the council has with any compliance in relation to that property or other property, I will deal with the council.
"There might have been an error, but there was no intention to breach anything."
Field said he was not aware of any other consent issues, but "if the council wants to raise that, they will raise that in good time with me".
* Former MP coy on new party discussions
More than 100 people met with former Labour MP Taito Phillip Field on Thursday night to discuss forming a new political party.
Field was coy about the meeting when asked by the Herald on Sunday but confirmed it had occurred.
The South Auckland meeting was about "options", he said. "People in the community are looking at what possibilities there are for next year's election. It was about options, and informing the community what was going on. We're in a consultative process. We're allowing people to consider what the options are."
