School dumper, farmer fined $30k each
The owner of an unauthorised dump in Hawera and a demolitionwaste contractor have both been fined $30,000 in the Environment Court.
Stuart Fisher, who has a cleanfill dump site on his farm in Hawera, and Roydon Collingwood of Collingwood Civil Ltd appeared at the Environment Court sentencing in New Plymouth on Friday for similar reasons but with different charges.
Fisher had been letting contractors dump waste on his farm for some time, unaware he needed a resource consent to do so.
Collingwood, the sole director of Collingwood Civil Ltd, appeared on four charges of dumping waste at the Hicks Rd site including 60 truckloads of waste from the firedecimated Hawera Intermediate.
Judge Craig Thompson said their low fines were a result of their actions being not deliberate, but they were both still at fault due to their carelessness.
‘‘It seems to be quite clear that Mr Fisher believed that because of what he had been told by contractors, dumping on his site was ok,’’ he said.
‘‘He was told by contractors he did not need resource consent for the dump, but it’s plain he didn’t make sufficient inquiries.’’
Thompson said Collingwood also failed to make the proper inquiries as to what he could dump at the site without resource consent.
The Taranaki Regional Council’s prosecutor Karenza de Silva said there was evidence of significant environmental effects as a result of the waste being dumped, however Thompson concluded these effects were limited solely to the landfill area.
‘‘Both defendants would have been aware of the need for resource consent,’’ de Silva said.
‘‘It seems extraordinary that this offending did occur, both sets of defendants could have contacted council and asked for clarification.’’
De Silva said while Collingwood didn’t drive the trucks to the dump itself, he needed to put in place systems to ensure his employees followed the rules.
‘‘There was also a profit motive for Collingwood as he may have won the tender for the Hawera fire waste by offering work on a cheaper basis,’’ he said.
Collingwood’s lawyer Kerry Anderson said the dump site was running for several years and her client thought it had consent to operate.
‘‘He’s not a dishonest person and was open to the whole process, in my view too open,’’ she said.
‘‘He’s embarrassed and remorseful about his actions and he’s focused on ensuring this doesn’t happen again.’’
Fisher’s lawyer Alastair Darroch said his client had been encouraged to let people use his site by contractors who told him ‘the council told them to put it there’.
‘‘He believed it was lawful,’’ he said.
‘‘But it was carelessness on his part.’’
Darroch said Fisher wanted to fill the gully on his farm so one day he could graze stock on the filled in portion of land.
Judge Thompson started off with a fine of $50,000 for each defendant but reduced the fine by 45 per cent due to early guilty pleas and the fact both Fisher and Collingwood had previously good records.