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The High Court has declined a request for an interim injunction as contractors continued to remove trees at Auckland’s Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond on Thursday.
Work was temporarily stopped on Wednesday when opponents of the work stood in front of equipment.
Local resident Shirley Waru leads group Respect Mt Richmond that opposes the Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s plan to remove mature exotic trees from the maunga.
On Wednesday afternoon, Waru applied for an interim injunction to stop the work.
READ MORE:
* Ōwairaka/Mt Albert tree removal: Court battles over plan to fell exotics cost $876k
* Ōwairaka/Mt Albert tree removal: Court of Appeal rules in favour of protesters
* Exotic tree removal will restore mauri to Ōtāhuhu/Mt Richmond: Maunga Authority
The request was heard by the High Court on Thursday afternoon with the court declining the injunction.
“Some of our oldest and tallest trees have been taken down. I don’t have a word for it,” Waru said.
“A lot of the trees that we wanted to save have gone.”
Early on Thursday morning, Waru and other opponents blocked contractors’ vehicles from entering the reserve.
David White/Stuff
Contractors removed pine trees at Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond on Thursday.
After a stand-off, police were called and workers walked into the reserve with their equipment, Waru said.
“There wasn’t much we could do.”
Police and security guards remained stationed at road entrances to the maunga on Thursday, while contractors could be seen using a crane to remove pine trees and continue work on a large Moreton Bay fig that work had started on earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, the Tūpuna Maunga Authority which manages 14 tūpuna maunga (ancestral mountains) in Auckland, said the work taking place is to clean up storm damaged trees and to undertake a vegetation restoration programme.
David White/Stuff
Contractors continued work to remove a large Moreton Bay fig at Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond on Thursday.
It is not clear whether the trees removed on Thursday were storm damaged or part of the vegetation restoration project.
The authority’s plan to restore the maunga to its original ecological state includes removing up to 60 trees in July, including 30 camellia bushes, the authority said.
Unsafe trees and pest species are also being removed.
Approximately 19,000 native plants have been planted on Ōtāhuhu as part of the revegetation programme, the authority said.
David White/Stuff
Police and security guards were stationed at gates to Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond on Thursday.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority has resource consent to remove 278 exotic trees over 4m in height from the maunga.
In 2022 Auckland residents Averil and Warwick Norman made a legal challenge to the authority’s plan to remove 345 exotic trees from Ōwairaka Mt Albert.
The Court of Appeal found the authority’s plan for Ōwairaka Mt Albert breached the Reserves Act and the authority had not carried out appropriate consultation with the public. The court set aside Auckland Council’s decision to grant resource consent for the Ōwairaka Mt Albert tree removals.
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