Farming leads rise in RMA prosecutions

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Prosecutions under the Resource Management Act have leapt, with the agricultural sector the main culprit.

An Environment Ministry report showed 260 prosecutions nationwide from May 1, 2005, till June 30 last year.

That compared with 171 prosecutions from July 1, 2001, till April 30, 2005, an increase of 52 per cent.

The number of prosecutions each year has grown from 45 to 82.

Resource Management Act expert Paul Beverley, of law firm Buddle Findlay, said the increase in prosecutions was probably caused by more vigorous policing.

With the RMA almost 20 years old, councils were moving from educating offenders to prosecuting them. "I don't think you can say the levels of offending have risen."

The most prosecuted sector in the latest period was agriculture, with 110 prosecutions, 43 per cent of the total.

The commercial and residential sectors were next worst, with 36 and 12 per cent of the total number of prosecutions respectively, with the industrial sector on 8 per cent.

Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson said the agriculture prosecution rate was lower than might be expected, considering the size and nature of the industry. "Given agriculture is New Zealand's largest and most important industry, accounting for 64 per cent of all exports, you would assume agriculture would be overwhelmingly the largest sector to be prosecuted.

"What we find instead is that commercial, industrial and even residential householders accounted for 56 per cent of all prosecutions."

Some figures in the report were disputed by local authorities.

A Greater Wellington regional council spokesman said it undertook 11 prosecutions during the 2005 to 2008 period. Prosecutions were not the only way of dealing with offences, he said.

Other options included warning letters, abatement notices and enforcement orders.

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said it had prosecuted six offenders against the RMA from 2005 till 2008. "On the face of it the number of prosecutions may appear low, but it reflects our desire to work with offenders to make good the damage they have done."

- © Fairfax NZ News