16 September 2022
File Ref: OIAP-7-25177
Sean Marshall
[FYI request #20098 email] Tēnā koe Sean
Request for information 2022-119
I refer to your request for information dated 1 August 2022 which was received by Greater
Wellington Regional Council (Greater Wellington) on 1 August 2022. You have requested the
following:
“
Costs associated with failed enforcement order application (281C Katherine Mansfield Drive)
My request includes (but is not limited to) information on:
- in-house costs attributable to this matter (such as costs of investigation);
- any costs attributable to any other enforcement action taken before applying for an enforcement
order (for example, letters of warning or letters of demand);
- legal costs incurred for lawyers engaged by the Council;
- costs for any experts or consultants engaged by the Council;
- any costs or disbursements payable by the Council to the other parties to the proceeding or to the
court;
- any costs incurred after the Court's decision was issued (for example, resulting from advising the
Council on the outcome and consequence of the decision);
- any other costs incurred by the Council not noted above but reasonably attributable to this
matter.
My inquiry includes liability for costs accrued but not yet paid.
Can you please also provide a copy of any consideration (reports, resolutions, etc) which the council
has given to the financial impact of this proceeding on the Council and how the council intends to
finance its liability in relation to the proceeding.”
Wellington office
Upper Hutt
Masterton office
0800 496 734
PO Box 11646
PO Box 40847
PO Box 41
www.gw.govt.nz
Manners St, Wellington 6142
1056 Fergusson Drive
Masterton 5840
[Wellington Regional Council request email]
Greater Wellington’s response follows:
Further to our letter dated 29 August 2022 seeking an extension of time to gather the information
you requested, below is a table outlining information within the scope of your request that we have
compiled as a result of a search of our records.
Context and Caveats
• The below costs are extracted from the Financial Systems based on time coding and invoice
coding.
• The unsuccessful enforcement order application was part of a larger investigation which also
resulted in criminal charges being laid.
• Costs within this investigation could be attributable to the enforcement order proceedings,
criminal proceedings, or both.
• The criminal proceedings are still sub-judice, therefore further costs may be incurred within that
process.
• There is an unknown cost element for officer time assessing compliance at the start of GWRC
interaction with the respondents in the case. Prior to statutory action being considered and a full
investigation being instigated, there are no specific coded costs.
In response to your first question:
Cost Element
Cost ($)
Specific Commentary
Legal
203,964.64
Whilst specific invoices or actions may be
attributable to one element of the bigger case
External Consultants
34,135.30
without analysis of every invoice, and for the
reasoning above it is not possible to separate out
the costs specific to the enforcement order
proceedings for the reasoning above.
Settlement of Respondents
482,402.07
Costs as per Decision [2022] NZEnvC 83 Dwyer J
Costs
– 23 May 2022
Settlement of Court Costs
100,000.00
Costs as per Decision [2022] NZEnvC 107 Dwyer J
– 21-June 2022
Officer Time Costing
103,747.00
Time coded by officers is based on an hourly rate
of $76.00. As for the above reasons it will also
include time attributable to the enforcement
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order proceedings, criminal proceedings, or
both.
Sundries
210.30
Other coded costs associated with investigation
In relation to your question on liability for costs accrued but not yet paid, we highlight the caveat
above in relation to the criminal proceedings, being “
criminal proceedings are still sub-judice,
therefore further costs may be incurred within that process” that are as yet unknown. We confirm
that other than as noted in the proviso, there are no costs associated with this failed enforcement
order application that have been accrued but are not yet paid.
In relation to your request to provide a “
copy of any consideration (reports, resolutions, etc) which
the council has given to the financial impact of this proceeding on the Council and how the council
intends to finance its liability in relation to the proceeding” we advise that the costs are currently
being met from existing budgets. For this reason, there has been no consideration by Council of the
financial impact of the proceeding or how it intends to finance its liability. Accordingly, Greater
Wellington refuses the request for information under section 17(g) of LGOIMA on the basis that the
information is not held by Greater Wellington.
If you have any concerns with the decision(s) referred to in this letter, you have the right to request
an investigation and review by the Ombudsman under section 27(3) of the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987.
Please note that it is our policy to proactively release our responses to official information requests
where possible. Our response to your request will be published shortly on Greater Wellington’s
website with your personal information removed.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Al Cross
Kaiwhakahaere Matua Taiao | General Manager, Environment Management
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