A Carterton dairy farmer is hoping to avoid prosecution over an illegal building project after removing a concrete silage pad he built on a paper road.
Chris Engel, a former Carterton councillor, was given until December 22 by Carterton District Council to remove the 38m x 14m pad he built onBorlase Rd, off Waihakeke Rd, south of town.
Mr Engel said he missed that date and received notice just before Christmas of possible prosecution by the council.
He has complied with the council's demands and carted away the last of the concrete on Sunday.
"We removed the silage straight away and the concrete as quickly as was humanly possible, which meant I organised the concrete cutter and got the contractors out after the Christmas break."
He said he hoped the issue would now be considered closed and the prosecution called off.
"I would imagine that that would be the end of it."
Carterton District Council chief executive Colin Wright said papers had been sent to the court just before Christmas, but had not yet been served to the Engels.
Prosecution could now be on hold, if the work had indeed been done to the standard required, Mr Wright said.
"What the council wanted all along was that the paper road wasn't obstructed. It wasn't a matter of prosecution as such."
Originally the council ordered Mr Engel to remove the pad by December 7, but he then put a "land for land" proposal to councillors, hoping to avoid ripping up the structure.
However, that proposal was turned down at a public-excluded meeting on December 15, when the new removal date of December 22 was given. Since his proposal was rejected, Mr Engel said he would now have to block what he believed was "the most practical" access to the Waiohine River, which runs through his property, for a silage pad.
"It's quite sad really, because the other day there were several families down there enjoying it."
He said it was a shame more "common sense" had not been used throughout the whole process.
