KEY POINTS:
A development company, director and landscaper have been fined a total of $40,000 for carrying out what a judge said was "brazen" and "deliberate" unauthorised development work for commercial gain on public conservation land in the Bay of Islands.
The company, Springfield No 1 Ltd, director Trevor Love and landscaper Chris McSweeney admitted offences under the 1987 Conservation Act when they appeared in the Whangarei District Court.
The offences involved interfering with natural and historic features, and removing soil from a conservation area on the Purerua Peninsula without consent or authority.
The prosecution results from land development work undertaken between February and April last year on a property adjacent to a conservation-administered marginal strip, or "Queen's Chain", beside Opete Creek, a tributary running into Te Puna Inlet.
As pine trees were cleared and a house site prepared, work continued on to the marginal conservation strip, which was reshaped, had soil and vegetation removed and was "modified" for 570 metres - nearly the entire length of the strip.
The court heard that the unauthorised work had exposed a number of shell middens and damaged remains of an ancient swamp pa of cultural and historic significance to local iwi.
Ngati Torehine kaumatua Hugh Rehari said the work had been done without Northland Regional or Far North District Council approval. This denied iwi any opportunity to carry out their usual protection and consultation process. Judge Laurie Newhook said the works were substantial and archaeological and ancient pa sites were disturbed.
Though not obvious, all sites were on public reserve land in a coastal area, and had the developers made applications for the work to the two councils and to the Department of Conservation, they would have been made aware of any significant values, the judge said.
One defendant had previously worked for DoC and should have known about the appropriate process.
Judge Newhook described the offending as brazen, deliberate and for commercial gain, although he gave credit to the defendants for pleading guilty and for carrying out a DoC-required rehabilitation programme on the strip to a high standard.
Love and McSweeney were each fined $4000 and Springfield No 1 Ltd $32,000.
They must also each pay $3000 towards DoC's prosecution costs.
NZ Kiwi Foundation spokesman Greg Blunden, of the nearby Aroha Island kiwi sanctuary at Rangitane, said the outcome sent a clear message to developers that they must not destroy sensitive areas of land, the habitats of threatened species or sites of cultural value.
"And certainly not land belonging to other people - in this case the people of New Zealand."
Dr Blunden said at least two illegal clearances of kiwi habitat had occurred recently in the Bay of Islands - one in Rangitane before the Opete Creek case, and the other more recently on Opito Bay Rd.
