The trench on Pages Rd. Photo / Supplied
A Christchurch City councillor has been fined $300 after digging a trench to solve a street's flooding problem that had gone unfixed for 10 years.
Councillors Phil Mauger and James Daniels hired a digger and dug the 70-metre trench on Pages Rd and the council spent nearly $10,000 plugging it due to safety concerns.
An investigation was launched into their actions.
Christchurch City Council's regulatory compliance unit has fined Mauger $300.
The councillor, who owns Mauger's Contracting Ltd which carries out earthmoving and construction, must also carry out other red zone maintenance work at no cost to council.
Mauger told Chris Lynch on Newstalk ZB he might not have gone about fixing the flooding the right way - but he had to do something.
He said the "puddle" was the size of 10 football fields and it had been a problem for 10 years.
A council spokeswoman said a detailed site inspection report has yet to be received for landfill material.
She was unable to say if the telecommunication cables were live.
Traces of mercury chloride have been detected in white powder sold as MDMA in the region.