Council Put Stormwater outlet on property without permission.

[julianne]

Our local council put a stormwater outlet on out property without our consent. It was supposed to exit on out neighbors property. But a last minute decision was made to put it on ours. Our small creek is not handling it and it is flooding our land. No previous easements have been signed off and we were at no time consulted. According to the Local Government Act Section 181 we should had to sign this off. We can't afford lawyers to fight this. What to do?

[Keys]

Fill in/block the exit and build something to steer the water elsewhere.

[Davo36]

Maybe go to Citizens Advice Bureau and speak to them. See what they have to say.

Everyone knows I hate councils. They're arrogant the lot of them. Starting with that idiot at the top.

I've had a number of battles with them over developing property, what I would do is this:

1) Gather evidence. So take photos, videos if you can of the pipe and the flooding it causes.

2) Read your district plan, see if it says anything in there about location of services.

3) Think about getting a valuer to tell you how much this has knocked off the value of your property. Keep that for later use i.e. presenting them with a bill for the loss in value. But really you want to have it shifted.

4) Check your title. Where I live, the council have the right, on some titles for storm water in the future.

5) Get on the phone to your local board member (if in Auckland), councillor, or mayor if you can. Let them know the situation without blasting their ears off, it's not their fault.

6) Try and meet with council and get it sorted. Take along your evidence.

7) If they don't play ball, go public. Get on Fair Go, Campbell Live, The NZ Herald, the radio, or whatever you can . Councils HATE looking like a bunch of bastards to the public. You'd think they'd stop being such bastards in the first place, but this insight seems to have eluded them.

Document your case on a blog. Here is fine, and other sites too maybe. Again it's all about shining light on what they're doing.

9) Report back here i.e. keep us up to date.

[artemis]

There is also the Local Government official Information Act when you need info from the Council. You can ask what processes were followed, what the decision making process was, who was involved at each step of the process, whether you should have been consulted, and for all documents held which relate to the situation including any meeting minutes. Once you have a clear view of these things, and including what Davos has mentioned above, if you don't get satisfaction from the council, you have recourse to the Ombudsman.

Sounds like a lot to do, but the LGOIA part is easy as you just need to write and ask for the info, and they have to provide it within a timeframe. It will get their attention.

[Maccachic]

Local MPs can be useful and the papers love a good story.

Prob start with issuing a work order / request to fix from memory there is normally a form on the Councils website.