Horizons councillor John Turkington's forestry company facing further charges

John Turkington's forestry company has been charged with more alleged breaches of the RMA. Photo / File

Horizons regional councillor John Turkington has had more charges laid against his business by the council he sits on.

Horizons Regional Council has laid charges against John Turkington Ltd - charges Turkington "strenuously denies".

In a statement Turkington confirmed the charges related to breaches of the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry.

Turkington said he was informed of new charges laid against his company in late October.

Horizons Regional Council said it would not comment on charges before the court and would not confirm if it had laid new charges or not.

A report to the council's environment committee on Wednesday listed two sets of charges against John Turkington Ltd without further detail.

Turkington would not go into detail about the charges, other than to say they relate to "allegations of non-compliance".

Turkington said that while the nation was in lockdown in April, his company was issued with abatement notices.

According to Turkington, the company appealed the notices. Turkington said the council subsequently cancelled the notices altogether on July 31.

According to Turkington's statement, the new charges relate to the cancelled abatement notices.

Last October, two charges were laid against Turkington himself for alleged breaches of the Resource Management Act. The charges were later withdrawn.

At the same time, four charges were laid against his company.

All charges are being challenged by the company.

Turkington would not comment on the recent charges when contacted by the Chronicle, but did say in a written statement that the charges would be "strenuously defended."

"JTL is whole-heartedly committed to operational excellence at all levels," he said.

Turkington was elected to the Horizons Regional Council in the Manawatū-Rangitīkei constituency last year with 5234 votes, the most of any candidate in the seat. He holds a seat on the council's environment committee.

According to their website, John Turkington Forestry manages over 10,000 hectares of forestry across the lower North Island and Southland, marketing over 100 truckloads of logs each day.