The Court of Appeal has granted Northlake Investments Ltd leave to appeal its District Court conviction for discharging contaminated water into the Clutha River from the subdivision in August 2017.
The application was heard by three Court of Appeal judges on September 30 in a common proceeding when a matter has already been appealed once to the High Court.
In August 2017, heavy rainfall carried sediment from the earthworks at the Northlake site to the Clutha River, just over 1 km away. Northlake was prosecuted for discharging a contaminant into water and fined $42,500 in September 2019, but immediately appealed this decision on the basis that “the Judge erred both in law and in his assessment of the evidence by finding that Northlake failed to take the necessary reasonable precautions to prevent the discharge,” and that there was disparity with the sentence imposed on its contractor Civil Construction Ltd (CCL). CCL pleaded guilty to the same offence and was fined $25,500 in January 2019. This appeal was rejected by the High Court.
Speaking on behalf of Northlake, Winton Group CEO Chris Meehan said: “Northlake is pleased to receive confirmation that leave to appeal has been granted by the Court of Appeal. 
“The Winton Group, including Northlake, is proud of its consistently responsible and structured approach to compliance, particularly under the Resource Management Act, as evidenced by its perfect record to date. Northlake’s position remains that it did all things required of a prudent developer, including relying on quality contractors and expert consultants, and was not an active or primary discharger under the RMA. Therefore Northlake is looking for the Court of Appeal to recognise it is not responsible for the breach.”
Now that leave has been granted by the Court, the appeal can be progressed, but Deputy Registrar Chris Abraham said no hearing date had been set down at this stage.

Read edition 1002 of the Wānaka Sun here.