The lines splitting the regional council roles of policy maker and policeman were too blurred for Owen McShane.
The director of the Centre for Resource Management Studies said allowing regional councils to be lawmaker, investigator, and beneficiary of any fines, was too cosy, and one that undermined public confidence.
Mr McShane claims fines against dairy farmers in particular have been increased in recent years as revenue streams from resource and development applications decline.
In one week in August 2008, he said the Environment Court heard 13 cases of farmers breaching discharge consents, with the five councils which brought the cases pocketing $125,000 in fines.
In almost every case, farmers pleaded guilty on the promise fines would be cut in half, an inducement he said meant few challenged the charges.
But he had concerns over the lack of separation of council roles and power.
Under the Resource Management Act, regional councils write the management plans, enter properties to monitor the rules, collect evidence of any breaches, lay charges, plea bargain with offenders, provide the witnesses and pocket the fines.
"How we accept this is beyond me, because it breaks all constitution convention which requires separation of power.
"Normally, Parliament writes the law, then the law is enforced by the police for example, then a case is taken to court which is presided over by a judge. This is deliberate separation."
In many cases he has investigated, the court had found "no evidence that the discharge had damaged the stream".
Mr McShane said his investigations also revealed that regional councils operated under the same instant fine legislation as parking meter wardens, and he claims councils have been acting unlawfully as that legislation restricted fines to a maximum of $1000, not the $30,000 limit and criminal conviction that occurs.
He also felt councils should be made to compensate when their decisions restrict existing land users.
A Waikato pig farm was made to close because of objections from encroaching urban development.
The owner was never compensated.
When the farmer said he would subdivide his farm, the council declined permission because it was on high class soils.
"It's a common law principle that if you move next to a nuisance then you have to live with it," he said.
He believed councils need to be funded in other ways to reduce their reliance on rates and fines, as some cities in the United States have done by getting a percentage of the sales tax.