- A construction company has been fined $35,000 after sediment and concrete slurry repeatedly escaped from a Royal Oak townhouse site.
- The court found the company failed to comply with abatement notices despite warnings and inspections by Auckland Council.
- The judge said the most serious aspect was the company’s failure to maintain controls and prevent sediment leaving the site.
Auckland construction company UCon Construction Ltd has been fined $35,000 after repeatedly allowing sediment and concrete slurry to escape from a residential development site in Royal Oak.
The company appeared in the Auckland District Court recently where Judge Jeff Smith sentenced it following guilty pleas to three charges under the Resource Management Act 1991. The charges related to the discharge of contaminants, breach of regional sediment control rules, and failing to comply with an abatement notice issued by Auckland Council.
The offending occurred between 13 July and 12 September 2024 at a five-townhouse construction site on Turama Road. During rainfall events, sediment-laden water travelled from the site onto the road and then approximately 180 metres to a stormwater sump connected to Auckland’s wider stormwater network.
Judge Smith said there was “no doubt that sediment continued to leave the property”, despite the installation of some controls at the site.
The court heard Auckland Council compliance officers first raised concerns during a site visit in March 2024, with further inspections in July showing that sediment controls remained inadequate. Abatement notices were issued requiring the discharges to stop.
Judge Smith was firm about the company’s lack of ongoing oversight.
“In my view, the fact that the defendant did not improve their vigilance and oversight of the structures to ensure they did not fail is the more serious aspect of this offending,” he said.
While the company did take some steps to remove sediment from the road after discharge events, Judge Smith said this did not excuse the breaches.
“This does not excuse the offending, but it does show that there was at least an attempt to make good on some of the effects.”
He noted that although the offending may have stemmed from inattention rather than deliberate misconduct, the result was the same.
“While I accept that this may have been due more to inattention and lack of oversight than a wilful or deliberate attempt to subvert the rules, the effect was nevertheless that sediment continued to escape.”
Judge Smith adopted a total starting point of a $50,000 fine for the offending and after a 25 per cent discount for early guilty pleas and a further 5 per cent discount for attempts to clean up the site, the final sentence was a $35,000 fine.
Auckland Council’s Team Leader Investigations Paul Cowling said the case highlights the importance of developers meeting their environmental obligations.
“Construction activity can generate significant sediment runoff if sites are not properly managed.
“Resource consents, erosion and sediment control rules exist to protect Auckland’s waterways and harbours. Developers must follow those requirements and respond promptly when issues are identified.”
The council’s Closing the GAP compliance programme is helping lift standards across the construction sector. Four programme officers now inspect more than 1,400 construction sites each month to ensure sediment controls are in place.
As the programme approaches its 70,000th inspection, compliance rates have climbed to about 90 per cent, the highest recorded. In 2025 alone, the team issued 330 infringement notices and 1,110 abatement notices where developers failed to meet environmental requirements.
“When abatement notices are issued, they must be taken seriously. Ignoring them or failing to maintain sediment controls can lead directly to prosecution.”
Mr Cowling said the outcome should serve as a reminder that proper oversight and maintenance of erosion and sediment controls is essential on active construction sites.
“Developers have a responsibility to ensure sediment stays on site, not in Auckland’s stormwater system, polluting our waterways.”