An Auckland Council erosion control initiative, Close the Gap (GAP), has seen an increased level of compliance in the residential construction sector.
Implemented last year, the council initiative has seen more than 5500 residential building sites visited by two full-time Regulatory Compliance officers dedicated to ensuring adequate sediment controls are in place.
Small sites account for around 600 hectares of land disturbance per year, GAP Senior Project Specialist Graham Jones says.
“Recent statistics show 51 per cent of residential construction sites are still lacking appropriate erosion control, however, this is an improvement on the figure of 90 per cent prior to project commencement,” Graham says.
“With around 13,500 small sites developed annually across Auckland small sites make up the bulk of land-disturbing activity.
“Even though some sites are small, the combined pollution effect on catchments downstream can be dramatic and expensive as damage is also caused to stormwater infrastructure and networks.”
Non-compliance can attract instant fines of $750 and in some cases that can lead to fines every day if the offence continues.
“Usually we issue an abatement notice, a formal warning that legally requires the activity stops until erosion/sediment controls are installed.”
If there is deliberate intent to ignore the directions or ongoing non-compliance council can prosecute, with fines of up to $300,000.
Last month Dean Hu, Mender Construction Limited and Tao Ma were sentenced in the Environment Court for charges relating to the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).
A total of $50,551 in fines was imposed by the court for all three defendants in respect of offending in Wright Road, Redvale.
The offences related to the absence of erosion and sediment controls leaving a large area of land disturbance uncontrolled above a block of indigenous vegetation under a Significant Ecological Area (SEA) overlay, damages to SEA vegetation and land disturbance activities exceeding those permitted by the granted resource consent.
A survey of the property undertaken of behalf of Auckland Council indicated that an excess of 4000 cubic metres of fill material had been imported to the property and dumped down the steep slope towards the SEA vegetation, resulting in damage to indigenous vegetation and smothering of the forest floor.
“This sentence, and the effort we’re putting into the GAP project, shows that the council and the court take the state of our waterways seriously,” Auckland Council’s Regulatory Compliance Manager Steve Pearce says.
“Clearly, we are willing to put the effort in, but we really need the industry to keep improving," Steve says.
“If you see sediment leaving a site and going into a stormwater drain or stream, please call us on 09 301 0101 so we can get someone out there to deal with it.”
