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A couple building their dream home on a remote part of Auckland's west coast stand to lose more than $640,000 if the Auckland Regional Council succeeds with a bid to have it demolished.
Anne and Mack Storey, of Parihoa Farms, are defending an ARC bid to have the High Court quash the resource consent for the house above the Te Henga-Goldie Bush Walkway, which runs between Bethells Beach and Muriwai.
In June, the couple promised the Environment Court they would stop building the foundations pending the result of the present ARC High Court action.
Rodney District Council, which issued the consent, is the first defendant in the case.
The district council denies the ARC claim that the consent decision was wrong because it failed to seek ARC and public views and failed to take into account visual effects of the house on the walkway in a nationally significant landscape.
Yesterday, the couple's lawyer, Stephen Mills, QC, told Justice Rhys Harrison a valid resource consent was issued in July 2005 and a valid building consent in April 2006 for a family home on a 235ha farm.
He said that from early last year the ARC had been actively engaged behind the scenes trying to prevent the house being built.
The ARC had tried to persuade the Department of Conservation and the Rodney council to refuse a subdivision consent which it believed was needed for a new house.
When this belief turned out to be wrong, the ARC pressed the district council to issue an abatement notice to stop building.
Mr Mills said the Storeys were unaware of the ARC's moves until it told them in June [2007] that it might challenge consent.
"Meanwhile, they proceeded in good faith and in reliance on their valid consents, to spend about $500,000 on building the house and will be faced with a further $140,000 or so for the pleasure of watching its demolition if the ARC succeeds in its stated objectives."
Mr Mills said there had been much "heat and effort" by the ARC to stop the house and press others into blocking it.
Mr Mills said the cost of suing the council for compensation would be significant.
"It is hard to imagine the emotional consequences of not only watching their home being demolished, but having to pay for its demolition as well."
The ARC is responsible for integrated management of the region's natural and physical resources, including enforcement of plans to protect coastal, landscape, natural character, heritage, recreational and iwi values.
