Waikato Plan Change 1 litigation nears conclusion after 12 years
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
It marks the third time since 2017 the council has brought a prosecution under the Resource Management Act against those involved in the ownership and management of the farm.
Each case has followed complaints from the public about an otherwise clear stream, the Matapara, flowing from the farm “turning green with effluent”.
In the Hamilton District Court on Monday (3 July), Judge David Kirkpatrick convicted and fined contract milker G & V Farms Limited $52,000 for unlawfully discharging dairy effluent into the environment on two occasions between September and November 2021.
Farm owner Cazjal Farm Limited and its director, John Leonard Walling, had been earlier convicted and fined on 2 June 2023 for similar offending on three occasions between June and November 2021, and for contravening an Abatement Notice.
Cazjal Farming Limited and Walling each received fines of $96,000.
An Enforcement Order was sought by the council, which was subsequently imposed by the court, against Cazjal Farming Limited and Walling.
The effect of the order requires both to comply with conditions to upgrade the effluent management practices and processes on-farm. They are also required to provide the council with effluent management plans and certifications as evidence of their compliance with the order.
Waikato regional compliance manager Patrick Lynch says that to have to take three prosecutions and seek a court order to protect waterways from one dairy operation is “disappointing”.
“The court is sending a very clear message by imposing fines totalling more than $240,00, and we can only hope these farm operators have heard that message,” Lynch says.
“We are very grateful to the farming community who have contacted us on each occasion when they have seen their local stream being polluted.”
