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Auckland's environmental watchdog has failed to persuade a High Court judge to quash a building consent for a house being built beside the Te Henga-Goldie Bush Walkway.
Early this month the Auckland Regional Council asked Justice Rhys Harrison to quash Rodney District Council's consent for the house andto order a rehearing of the consent application.
Building work stopped on the 641sq m house while the district council and the house's owners, Anne and Mack Storey, of Parihoa Farms, defended the action.
The ARC argued that the district council made errors in making its decision to give building consent for a home on the popular coastal walkway which runs between Bethells Beach and Muriwai.
But in a reserved decision Justice Harrison refused the ARC's application.
He said that errors made by the district council in deciding not to notify the consent or to grant the consent did not strike at the core of the consent process.
They were not serious enough to warrant a rehearing and delaying of construction indefinitely.
Parihoa had spent $470,000 on the project mainly in architect's and construction fees.
He was satisfied that the ARC would take all legally available steps to ensure that a consent was not granted, including an appeal to the Environment Court for a demolition order.
His honour said each party should bear the costs of the court action, noting that the "ARC's case has been over-resourced, to say the least".
Mr Storey said last night he was thrilled by the judgment but said work could not resume on the house because the ARC had 20 working days in which to decide on an appeal against the decision.
He said the ARC had acted in a despicable way to stop their home being built and to get it knocked down.
He estimated the legal action would total $1 million for Parihoa and ratepayers.
ARC chairman Mike Lee said the council was studying the judgment and would make a decision on an appeal "in due course".
"We take the role in defending outstanding landscape in the public interest very seriously. These landscapes are rapidly disappearing under massive trophy houses."
Bethells Beach (Te Henga) resident Gary Taylor, who is chairman of the Environmental Defence Society, said the court's decision put private rights ahead of the public interest in protecting outstanding landscapes and wilderness.
"The judge has exercised a seemingly broad discretion to refuse the ARC relief when the ARC case clearly exposed legal errors in Rodney's handling of the case. It is a disappointing decision."
Rodney Mayor John Law said it would take exceptional circumstances for a judge to decide to order another consent hearing when it risked someone's home being dismantled.
