District council waste services manager Morgan Harrison said it was disappointing to have to be called upon for illegal dumping incidents, because hiring contractors costs ratepayers across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the frustration this causes for people who use the slipway safely,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIllegal dumping is unfair and unacceptable. It damages our environment and creates safety risks for those who use shared spaces like the slipway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge people to dispose of waste responsibly and to check that contractors they hire are doing the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were ways to dispose of rubble that did not involve costly transfer station fees, with Whanganui companies Bullocks and Bark & Boulders accepting rubble for recycling at cost-effective rates, Harrison said.<\/p>\n
The council welcomed signals from the Government that tougher penalties for illegal dumping were being considered, she said.<\/p>\n
Dan Higgs, the senior consents monitoring officer for Horizons, said unauthorised dumping of this type was a breach of section 15 of the Resource Management Act and rule LF-LW-R34 of Horizons\u2019 One Plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cIndividuals can face infringement fines between $1500 to $2000, depending on the source and type of material, while companies can receive infringement fines between $3000 to $4000,\u201d Higgs said.<\/p>\n
Prosecution for higher-level offending could result in fines between $1 million and $10m.<\/p>\n
The pile of concrete and building material that’s been dumped is affecting the waka ama club, whose base is in the background. Photo \/ Fin Ocheduszko Brown<\/p>\n
The rubble affected the Te Ringa Miti Tai Heke Whanganui Waka Ama Club, which relies on the ramps to safely enter the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a community perspective, we have always tried to monitor that area and have given access to everyone to use it,\u201d club president Hone Tamehana said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not helpful. All we can do at the moment … is report it because we have no way of knowing or evidence [of] who is doing the dumping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to encourage safe water activities, in particular with our young ones, so it\u2019s not helpful at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s cameras were unable to capture the culprit because of issues with the Wi-Fi connection, Tamehana said.<\/p>\n
Harrison sympathised with the waka ama club and other users of the space.<\/p>\n
\u201cDumped material creates hazards for people launching boats, for waka ama users and for anyone accessing the area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe strongly encourage people to avoid walking on or around the debris.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district council\u2019s environmental health team is investigating the incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there is evidence that identifies those responsible for dumping, we will take enforcement action,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n
Hall wants to know who is responsible for the dumpings and thinks they owe the P\u016btiki community an apology for disrespecting the area\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n
The district council asks anyone aware of any illegal dumping of material to report it by calling (06) 349 0001.<\/p>\n
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"District council waste services manager Morgan Harrison said it was disappointing to have to be called upon for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1975,5532,1770,1568,5205,31534,7557,20211,31533,15313,3242,101,6287,111,43,139,69,1118,31531,669,27217,31530,530,31532,16742,1883,21083],"class_list":["post-33471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-at","tag-boat","tag-concrete","tag-construction","tag-council","tag-disrespected","tag-district","tag-dumped","tag-dumping","tag-feeling","tag-large","tag-left","tag-material","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pile","tag-ptiki","tag-ramp","tag-removes","tag-residents","tag-rubble","tag-users","tag-whanganui","tag-whanganuis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}