Abatement Notices
Originally
Published in Nelson Marlborough
Farming May 2011
I have over
the years I have
became involved with people who have had
the misfortune to have
abatement notices served on
them. An abatement notice is a legal
document requiring a person to cease,or
prohibiting that person
from commencing any thing that
contravenes the RMA, any regulations, a
rule in a plan, or a resource consent,
or stopping something that is
noxious, dangerous, offensive, or
objectionable .
In a
rural situation the sort of thing that
councils might use these for is
illegal effluent discharges,
illegal taking of water,
modifying waterways without consent,
and an multitude of other alleged
breaches of the ever expanding
rule book.
Its is very
easy for a council to issue an abatement
notice, an enforcement officer
simply fills in a prescribed form and
serves it on you. After having this nasty
bit of paper handed to you, in general you
have two options, comply or appeal to
the environment court.
The former
might involve you doing something that in
your opinion is unreasonable or
unnecessary, the latter could incur
not insubstantial legal costs, and you
might still lose. It can be your classic
rock and a hard place scenario.
But what
ever you do, do not ignore an abatement
notice, it doesn't matter how unfair
or unreasonable you think it
is, you need to address it promptly. If
you you are going to fight it get legal
advice. If you are going comply, do
so within the specified time frame.
Failure to
comply with an abatement notice can result
in legal action (prosecution) being taken
against you, if you lose this means
you may have to pay a fine, you may have
to pay for councils legal costs and you
will still need to comply with what
the consent notice originally
required.
Under the
Resource Management (Simplifying and
Streamlining) Amendment Act 2009 the
maximum fines for companies and
individuals under the RMA were increased
to $600,000 and $300,000 respectively,
yet another reason to take the little
piece of paper they hand you seriously.
This
article is general in nature and should
not be a substitute for specific advice
from a
suitable professional. John
Cotton specialises in rural surveys and is
a Director of Cotton and Light Ltd a
survey firm that works throughout
Nelson, West Coast and Marlborough.
