Such is the damage that the trust has won a High Court injunction to stop Roel Wobben using the area for any part of his large dairy farming operation until the court rules on the matter next year.
Trust chief executive Mike Jebson told Dairy News that Wobben one year ago bought the farm containing the covenanted area; he was aware of the rules on the protection of rare woodland remnants.
Jebson says when he and other trust representatives visited the farm in June this year they discovered Wobben had already cleared part of the covenanted area.
“We have been trying to reach an agreement with the landowner about what needs to happen to restore the covenant. The major issue is that we wants to continue to run his irrigator through the covenant.
“He destroyed the vegetation to allow the irrigators to run through the covenant to irrigate all the land around. He intended to plough up the covenant after removing the vegetation and bring that into pasture as well. We have prevented him ploughing up the covenant but he is still wanting to run the irrigators through the covenant.”
Jebson says the landowner is driven by his business interests and has taken the action as the easiest way to run an irrigation system. He could have done it a different way without damaging the covenant, Jebsen says.
The High Court injunction now prevents Wobben from doing anything on the covenanted land without permission and it gives trust staff access to monitor what is going on there.
A court case is some months away. QE II is asking the court to require Wobben restore the covenant to its original state, the cost of which could be substantial.
Jebson says landowners mostly respect covenants on their properties.
