SunLive - NZ Productivity Commission Chair to speak at Bay sunlive.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunlive.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council told
Stuff, in response to a Local Government Official Information & Meetings Act request, that it incurred $203,798.47 in legal fees “in order to secure compliance with the RMA on this matter”.
Christel Yardley/Stuff
In an affidavit, Alan Merrie told the court they “foolishly put the cart before the horse, by beginning the process of tyre collection before we had the cash in the bank”. “This includes any advice relating to our initial response to the stockpiling, prior to charges being laid, costs associated with the first prosecution for contravention of an abatement notice, and the current matter relating to a breach of an enforcement order.”
Vehicle tracks running along the east coast.
Photo: Supplied via LDR
A new report, released last week, shows the Marlborough District Council was between a rock and a hard place before opting for a bylaw banning all vehicles, including quad bikes, from a 45km stretch of coastline.
The only exception was for fishers launching their boats at two distinct spots; one on Marfells Beach and one on Ward Beach.
The bylaw was released last Thursday after a year-long tug-of-war between those who thought vehicles damaged the coast and those who thought most quad bikers were eco-conscious.
The bylaw would go out to the public from mid-July.
Norske Skog s Tasman mill in Kawerau.
Photo: Norske Skog
Freshwater campaigner Tiipene Marr, of Ngāti Rangitihi, said owner Norske Skog should have to produce an environmental audit before it leaves.
The Norwegian company said it was aware of the environmental matters, and would meet all its obligations.
Marr and his family used to call the river the black drain - now they call it the brown drain . The whole Tasman site is totally contaminated, Marr said. It s been running for 66 years, polluting our river and polluting our people.
Marr said in the past workers got sick from exposure to Tasman mill contaminants, and he said he watched as diggers buried chlorine-contaminated sludge in nearby forests.