A breach notice has been served to the construction company that cut down 10 ironwood (toa) trees at the Fruits of Rarotonga waterfront in Tikioki, despite the company’s claims of safety concerns and public benefit.

Last month, the National Environment Service (NES) investigated and discovered that no formal consent was obtained for the cutting of the trees.

The government agency said the activity was against the Environment Act 2003, which specifies that an offence is carried out if prior written consent is not obtained for provision 50(1)(a) “removal of silt, sand, cobble, gravel, boulder, coral or any tree from the foreshore or Cook Islands waters”.

Earlier this week, NES director Halatoa Fua confirmed that a breach notice has been served to T&M Heather Ltd.

“Please note that a breach notice was served. Matter is currently going through a review process and we will work with Crown Law on their advice for the next steps,” Fua told Cook Islands News.

T&M Heather’s Joseph (Jojo) Heather had defended their actions, saying the trees were hazardous due to “weak roots” and that they decided to trim them to a manageable height.

Heather said he had responded to the notice letter from NES and was waiting for a response.

In his letter, he highlighted his reasons for the work as well as his claim of ownership of the land.

“I replied back to that letter and they didn’t come back to me but I replied and I said I had a verbal consent because we trimmed the trees next door too but it was a bit higher and it was a verbal consent too and that one was okay,” Heather told the newspaper.

“But for this one, they said I breached because I didn’t have a consent but I did have verbal consent because I did the one next door. But they (NES) said we had to trim it at this (certain) height but my guy started complaining why trim it this high which is going to cost more and the Environment is not paying for it.

“I’m just maintaining the place (waterfront area) … and all the feedback from the public, they’re talking about my property, it’s not even theirs. It’s a private property. What rights do they have to talk about my property?”

Heather is opening up the area where the trees were cut down to members of the public and he stressed that tourists who come to use the beach love the place now.

“The tourists love the place; they come there and use the beach and I’m opening it to them. I’m not closing it because it’s my own property and I don’t know why these people are talking about my trees,” he added.

“These are my trees and I planted them and now they want to take me to court? Take me to court, it’s my trees and if anyone wants to talk about it, come and see me.”

Heather earlier insisted their work was done with good intentions and that they were cooperating fully with the NES investigation.

“In the past 10 years, we have done a lot of work in that area. Due to high seas and the weight of the trees with sand around the trees eroding made them vulnerable to toppling over in strong winds. So we decided to trim them to hedge size, we didn’t remove the trees, it can grow back again easily,” Heather said last month.

“There’s also a bus stop there and over the years the cones (fruits) from these trees and branches have been falling onto the roof of these bus stops causing it to rust. We replaced the rooftop and did some maintenance work as well.

“No one wanted to do anything about these issues but as soon as we do something, everyone is up in arms about it. We have tourists coming in that area to enjoy the sun and beach, but there is too much shade … also the weak branches from these trees can pose a danger to them.

“Our intention was to make the area safer for everyone to use.”