Reprieve for owner of tyres

The owner of a property where thousands of tyres are illegally dumped has been given until next summer to clean it up.

Garry Tuck had been under orders to clear his land, north of Hamilton, by October but the deadline has been extended to March.

Judge Robert Whiting, in the Environment Court, said Mr Tuck had about 20,000 truck tyres on his property, which would cost $160,000 to $250,000 to shift.

But Mr Tuck was not in a financial position to take on a mortgage of that amount.

He has proposed shifting most of the tyres to Hampton Downs Motor Sport, which has sought planning permission to build a race-track and fence it with 15,000 tyres.

Judge Whiting said that at a previous court hearing, Mr Tuck had told of a plan to fence his own property with the tyres, but later conceded it would be more appropriate to remove them.

Mr Tuck had been busy clearing up the property, the judge said.

He had removed about 2500 tyres, taken away 20 loads of scrap tyres and tubes, cleared piles of dirt and rubbish from the front of the property and cleared the remains of an old house.

He had also sorted tyres, filled in a pond and cleared a drain.

Judge Whiting said he had visited the property and Mr Tuck's work was commendable, considering what the property had looked like in December.

The thousands of tyres were found last year to be a major fire risk and were attracting vermin and mosquitoes.

Mr Tuck bought the land, with the dumped tyres already there, at a mortgagee sale in September 2003 for $65,000.

Shortly before the sale, Warwick Bennett, then chief executive of the Waikato District Council, warned that the new owner could face a bill of hundreds of thousands of dollars to get rid of the tyres.

Mr Tuck said last year that he was "getting there".

Judge Whiting gave him until next March to shift all but 3500 tyres from the land.

Mr Tuck must also provide the council with a management plan to eradicate mosquitoes, weeds and vermin.