PHOTO:GEOFF REID NZ/SUPPLIED The Environment Court quashed Okura Holdings Limited’s plans to build 1000 houses next to the Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve.
A developer that sought to build 1000 houses next to a marine sanctuary has been ordered to pay almost $300,000 in legal costs to the council, a community group and environmental NGO.
Despite being opposed to paying up, Okura Holdings Limited was ordered to pay a total of $291,000 – $200,000 to Auckland Council and $91,000 jointly to Forest and Bird and the Long Bay Okura Great Park Society.
It follows a lengthy court battle over the council’s decision not to move the Rural Urban Boundary north of Auckland back in 2016, which would have allowed the build to go ahead.
In 2018, the Environment Court quashed the developer’s bid, concluding the Rural Urban Boundary should not be extended to incorporate the developer’s plans.
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