Huge tyre pile will be going

A huge pile of more than 600,000 tyres near Amberley is visible from the road, skims the border of legality and neighbours fear it as a fire hazard.

The owner of the business storing tyres on the Racecourse Rd site, Michael Benny Le Roy, leased the land from owner Warren Heslop. A representative for Heslop, Angelique Hyde, said landowners had been misled and had ‘‘shut out’’ Le Roy, cancelling his lease. There would be ‘‘no more tyres coming in’’.

‘‘One way or another, the tyres will be going. It’s not that we didn’t care about it, we did.’’

Hyde said the owners had received backlash from the community and were ‘‘not totally innocent’’ but weren’t hiding and were looking to make good on the issue. A recent health scare and the need to follow legal process when cancelling the lease had delayed Heslop’s response, Hyde said. She said she met with Huru- nui District Council (HDC) compliance officers on Monday.

If Le Roy did not remove the tyres, the owners would be responsible. ‘‘We’re left now with a major environmental problem,’’ Hyde said.

Le Roy was handed a High Court injunction on March 10 2016 from having anything to do with tyre recycling until January 2019.

The High Court ruling restrained Le Roy and his companies Jamison Investments Limited and Tyre Recycling Services New Zealand Limited ‘‘from having anything to do with tyre recycling or tyre collections on their own behalf, or on behalf of another party ... within the South Island of New Zealand’’.

The injunction would last for a period of three years from January 26, 2016, or until further notice from the court.

HDC regulatory services manager Judith Batchelor said council had issued Le Roy and the land owners an abatement notice in August last year, after an investi- gation beginning in May.

Surveillance of the site showed no tyres were being removed from the pile – only added. ‘‘We’ve been issuing infringement notices for [Le Roy’s] failure to comply,’’ Batchelor said.

Each notice came with a $700 fine, none of which had been paid.

Batchelor said the issue of non–compliance would soon be heading to court.

Environment Canterbury was also investigating the matter as an environmental issue.