Council caused crack in Shore couple’s drive

A ‘‘mini Grand Canyon’’ opened up on a Glenfield property following Auckland Council work in the park below it.

Glenfield couple Clement and Deanna Cattell’s battle with council began in 1996 when the thenNorth Shore City Council carried out earthworks in Downing Street Reserve which borders the pair’s property.

Part of the work included removing earth from a hill leading up to the Cattell’s boundary creating a steep slope.

The Cattells said that the earthworks had resulted in unstable ground and a significant crack in a concrete turning area which appeared after heavy rainfall in 2006.

‘‘It was like a mini Grand Canyon,’’ Clement told the North Shore Times.

‘‘This crack got progressively bigger.’’

In a High Court decision released on September 5, Justice Graham Lang found the council had committed nuisance but not negligence.

He found that the earthworks were responsible for the crack in the concrete area, but not cracks which later appeared in the garage and on the house.

The original crack, he ruled, was caused by underlying movement and instability in the slope, causing further damage.

‘‘I am satisfied that the steepness of the slope in the reserve contributed in a material way to the movement of the Cattells’ land,’’ the judgement said.

‘‘The angle of the slope was a direct result of the earthworks that the council carried out in 1996. For that reason the Cattells have established that the movement of their land and the consequential damage to the turning area was caused by the nonnatural use to which the council put the land in the reserve.‘‘

The judge determined the damage to the house was not caused by instability of the slope in the reserve.

Justice Lang did not make any orders but left it to the parties and

‘‘It was like a mini Grand Canyon.’’ Clement Cattell

their experts to agree on appropriate steps.

Clement Cattell told the Times: ‘‘I said to council, through my QC, that they broke it all by themselves, they fix it all by themselves and when they fix it, they guarantee their work’’.

Cattell said though he was happy with the result, he expected to be heading back to court.

‘‘I am disappointed the council hasn’t got the intestinal fortitude to get on with recognising they have to pay for their error.’’

ZIZI SPARKS/STUFF Works in the park below the Cattells’ house caused a crack to open up in their driveway, the High Court has ruled.