House movers pay for damage

By ANNE BESTON

A house removal company has been given a hefty fine for bulldozing a protected reef on the North Shore.

Haines House Haulage pleaded guilty in the Environment Court at Auckland to illegally clearing a channel through the reef at Thornes Bay, south of Milford Beach, to move a two-storey house on to a barge.

The company was fined $27,000, with costs of $6114.

A large portion of the money was awarded to the prosecuting council, the Auckland Regional Council, to cover expenses in bringing the case.

Judge Robert Whiting said the long-established company should have known better. Barging the house avoided expensive road transport costs.

Council coastal officer Michael Smythe said: "This decision sends a clear message to commercial operators that they won't get away with damaging the environment without it hurting their pockets."

University of Auckland biologists found the reef had been severely damaged in November 1998 when the company cleared a 10m-wide path across it before shipping the house to Northland.

Haines had resource consent for the house removal from the North Shore City Council but no coastal permit to disturb the seabed. It agreed to carry out remedial work, but some damage was permanent.

Mr Smythe said: "The reef's natural patterns and rock pools may never be the same but monitoring reports indicate marine organisms are recovering."

The Mayor of North Shore, George Wood, said the fine was hefty but justified.

He recalled yesterday that the incident happened within a few weeks of his leaving his job as detective inspector to become mayor.

"I got a call to see these guys were moving the rocks. I probably reacted as a policeman and jumped into the car.

"I went up to the machine and told the guy to stop. It stopped but then took off down the beach.

"So I pursued this with a lot of vigour to make sure it was followed up.

"This is a precious bit of our coastal foreshore."