Unauthorised landfilling and vegetation removal

Campbelltown City Council is targeting unauthorised landfilling and vegetation removal.

A recent spate of unauthorised landfilling and vegetation removal incidents in the Campbelltown Local Government Area (LGA) has attracted the attention of Council’s Compliance Services Section who are closely monitoring related illegal activity.

Council has received reports of construction waste disposal contractors directly approaching property owners, particularly in the more remote rural areas (such as Wedderburn, Kentlyn, Minto Heights and Long Point) offering "free" fill to avoid tipping fees to dispose of construction waste and excavated material.

Campbelltown is home to large and unique naturally vegetated areas with high conservation and ecological significance and unauthorised activities including landfilling, earthmoving and the removal of native vegetation have the potential to destroy or diminish this vital and irreplaceable natural asset.

Accepting unauthorised fill

Accepting unauthorised fill without the proper checks and approvals in place can expose land owners/occupiers to costly and irreparable damage to land, where contaminated soil or other construction waste dumped on land may significantly devalue property and potentially expose unassuming land owners to hazardous materials that may be contained within the waste, fines for illegal works and very expensive clean up or repair bills.

Landowner responsibilities

Council is reminding land owners of their responsibilities to ensure any land use activities (such as land filling, earthmoving or vegetation removal, including lopping or removal of individual trees) conducted on their property have the required approvals in place beforehand and are conducted lawfully. These approvals are required to ensure the activities are conducted correctly and do not cause land contamination or instability, adverse drainage or health impacts or environmental harm.

Penalties

The penalties for persons responsible for these types of unauthorised works can be hefty and range up to $5 million where the matter is successfully prosecuted in Court. A local land owner was recently prosecuted in the Land and Environment Court and was fined $84,000 and ordered to pay legal costs which were in the order of $100,000. These costs were in addition to the owner's own legal and clean up costs.

Council is available to clarify approval requirements or to discuss any concerns, observations or other matters related to land filling or vegetation removal.

Enquiries: Contact our City Development Division on 02 4645 4000.