Horizons orders operators to stop
Horizons Regional Council has issued a number of abatement notices for Horowhenua in recent months. One went to Wayne Bishop who was caught burning painted timber at his Speldhurst development on June 20.
Horizons’ enforcement officer responded to a call to the council’s pollution hotline regarding the burning of prohibited material and objectionable smoke at 70 Kimberley Rd. She observed a large stockpile of prohibited material including painted tiber being burn onsite. Prior to that date two other calls were made to the hotline.
One on August 10, 2019, alleged plastic was being burnt. An enforcement officer visited and found prohibited materials such as treated timber being burnt on site and ordered Wayne Bishop to put out the fire. A complaint received on April 3, 2020, could not be dealt with in person due to the lockdown but council told Bishop to stop.
The June 20 incident resulted in an infringement notice with a $300 fee.
The other abatement notice went to Dahlson Halidone for doing earthworks near a property on Clyde St in Foxton.
On May 29 a digger was found to be working on the riverbank. Dahlson claimed he was using an existing consent, issued to the Save Our River Trust for river enhancement in the same location.
He told the enforcement officer that he did the work to protect his building from flooding and that vadanls have been attempting to set fire to it. SORT chairman Robin Hapi told the council the works had nothing to do with the trust, which was waiting for the outcome on a funding application, but that Halidone was a member of the trust. The digger operator told the
enforcement officer “they told us they had consent”.
The abatement notice demanded a planting plan, a works plan also had to be submitted to fix this and stabilisation of the area to take place by the end of July.
“Dahlson Halidone was issued two abatement notices, no infringements, in relation to earthworks carried out in the Foxton Loop. One notice was to cease the earthworks and the other to undertake stabilisation. Halidone has since passed away, sothese abatement notices are no longer applicable,” Horizons advises.