Mirage Property Group was fined for contempt of court for failing to report to Nambucca Shire Council on works it was undertaking to protect the Nambucca River from soil pollution.  The company was also ordered to pay some of council’s court costs, up to $40,000.  Red clay from the housing development site was funneled down Beer Creek from West Street into the Nambucca River, which local oyster growers feared would impact on the industry’s productivity.  Mirage Property Group’s director Stephen Johnson said all the additional physical environmental barriers outlined by the court in December were complete.  He said the finding against him in the court this time around was a result of failing to report weekly to Nambucca Shire Council on the progress of the improved water control methods (i.e. installing erosion control blankets, hydraulic mulch, straw wattles, silt fence or other erosion control products).  “The orders were unclear on reporting requirements,” he said.  Mr Johnson said the delay in reporting was due to problems in finding a suitable supervisor to oversee the project.  “The judge (at the Land and Environment Court) said he was not trying someone for a polluting offence, it was about the reporting.”  In December, the Land and Environment Court ruled the company would have to make regular reports to council, as well as engaging a qualified person to implement a new soil and erosion control plan.  Mirage Property Group was fined and ordered to pay Nambucca Shire Council’s costs.  The measures included increasing the turf cover around the roads and on hills and building more dams to catch and sift the red soil before it left the West Street development site.