Builder and property owner fined for water pipe collapse

A property owner and a building contractor have been convicted and each fined $12,500 for carrying out earthworks which led to the collapse of a pipeline carrying the primary water supply for Paihia last year.

The two men have been ordered to pay 90% of the fines to the Far North District Council to offset prosecution costs, and have jointly made reparation to the council of $90,000 to meet the cost of repairing and reinstating the broken water main. The two men were also ordered to pay scale prosecution costs of $425 and court costs of $130 each.

Property owner Richard Quinn and builder Henry Nissen admitted charges brought by the Far North District Council alleging the two men had carried out the earthworks on Quinn’s Moana Rd property at Paihia in June last year without resource and building consents.

The prosecution under the Resource Management Act was lodged after the main water supply to Paihia was cut for several hours when a pipeline collapsed, damaging properties below and causing the evacuation of several homes.

District Court Judge LJ.Newhook in sentencing the two men said it was clear that the collapse of the ground and more importantly the council’s pipes was a direct result of the excavation work which had been carried out.

“Emergency services were required, people in the vicinity had to be evacuated and the water supply was cut off in the Paihia township for a period,” he said.

He found that the actions of the two defendants had been cavalier and the degree of offending had been quite serious, more so in the case of Nissen because “frankly he should have known better as an experienced contractor.”

Judge Newhook said he had gained the impression that the defendant Quinn encouraged the builder to press on with the work without engineering input because he wanted the work completed quickly.

Council General Manager of Regulatory & Customer Services Patrick Schofield today welcomed the court decision which it was hoped would be a deterrent to others not to proceed with projects without a Resource Consent or Building Consent.

“The consequences of ignoring the Resource Management Act and the District Plan can be quite severe, both in the costs to those responsible and in the impact on the community,” he said.