A Whangarei real estate agent says she never applied for consent for a roadside sign - but Whangarei District Council is charging her more than $2000 for the paperwork anyway.
Shelley Anderson, of Sanderson Realty, said council staff had "acted like little gods" for initiating a public notification process she said she did not authorise.
In 2010, Ms Anderson paid $1000 for a retrospective consent application for an advertising sign that had been in a paddock, well off the road, near the Ngunguru and Harris Rds junction at Glenbervie for two years. The owners of a blue and yellow billboard across the road, on a corner, were also told to apply for consent at the time.
Their application was approved but Ms Anderson's was rejected. Then began a lengthy period of querying that decision and what action might next be taken.
Ms Anderson's sign was removed in June.