Council accused of vandalising wetland reserve

Fiona Furrell. Photo / Supplied

A Whangarei woman has taken a local authority to task over what she calls vandalism of a wetland reserve at one of Northland's most beautiful coastal spots.

Fiona Furrell said she was shocked during a visit to family property at Houhora Heads, north of Kaitaia, last year to find 2ha of reserve drained and cleared of vegetation.

She said the Far North District Council had neither authority nor consents to make a sports field on Pukenui Domain.

The district council denies this, saying it was within its rights. However, work has stopped on the site and the drains have been plugged under orders of the Northland Regional Council.

NRC environmental monitoring manager Riaan Elliot said council water and soil plan rules were breached and a prosecution could not be ruled out.

The effects of some of the work could not be repaired, and the issue now was how to preserve and protect what was left.

A way forward was for the district council to apply for a retrospective resource consent, which would have control conditions imposed.

Mrs Furrell said she waited months for a response from the local authorities and had to privately obtain a legal opinion and geologist's report to get action.

Geologist John Allen backed her complaint that drains dug up to 5m deep would affect more of the wetland than just the cleared area, and would destroy habitat for native trees and birds.

"My concerns are primarily with the law being adhered to, protection being upheld and restoration of the wetlands," said Mrs Furrell.

"The reserve is registered wetland and scrubland and as the council administers the reserve it should have known it was fully protected under the Reserves Act."

Wetland consultant Keith Thompson advised the district council on restoration.

He reported that drain digging had penetrated well below the hard pan - a layer of material formed by kauri forest - which traps water, creating the peat bog among coastal sand dunes.

The Department of Conservation recorded the site designation in the district plan and listed it in its survey of protected natural areas as having the highest value for biological diversity.

It also met criteria for a "significant wetland" in the regional plan.

District council member for North Cape Willy van der Sluis said Houhora ratepayers were "100 per cent behind making a sports field for the kids" on that site.

The reserve was for "open space recreational opportunities" and it was neither registered as a wetland, scrubland nor formally designated a protected natural area.

He said the district plan did not require resource consent in that zone because only 15 per cent of the 17ha block was being changed to grass.

The drains were there before 1910 and the digger was meant to only clean them. Consents were not needed for this.

The council voted $100,000 for the project and when it halted $30,000 was unspent.

"We will keep that in case we have to fight a court case."