Shipping containers not on

A Dannevirke company and its director are in hot water with the Environment Court, after ignoring orders to remove shipping containers from a residential property.

Tararua District Council took Capital All Signs Holdings and its sole director David Easton to court to force him to get rid of shipping containers being kept on Fraser-collin Cres.

According to Judge Brian Dwyer’s judgment, released this month, Capital started developing the Dannevirke property in March 2017.

The council received complaints that same month about excavation work there.

There were more complaints in June last year, including complaints about shipping containers being stacked there.

The council issued Easton an abatement notice in September last year.

But the containers were still on the property in October, and he was given a deadline – October 20 – to get rid of them.

Despite the order, there were still containers on the property in July this year.

Shipping containers were not allowed to be on the property under the council’s District Plan, unless Easton had a resource consent. He did not have one.

The judge said Easton had consistently failed to comply with the council’s orders.

Easton told the court he would remove the containers, but the judge still made an enforcement order ‘‘in light of his past failures’’.

The judge warned Easton of the consequences of disregarding such an order. The company could be fined up to $600,000, while Easton could be fined up to $300,000 or jailed for two years.