FED UP: Parimahu Station owner Frank Gordon has lost patience with people crossing his Porangahau land to a traditional place for kaimoana. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN
Frank Gordon is threatening to block access to Blackhead Point Beach unless he is compensated for years of damage to his land.
His Porangahau farm gives people access to the traditional Ngati Kere seafood gathering place at the rocky point.
Mr Gordon has had enough of belligerent people camping on his land and dumping rubbish.
He had buried "mountains" of accumulated rubbish, including abandoned vehicles.
"I have had enough of this irresponsible behaviour."
He insists he will lock the Parimahu Station gate at the end of the month if he is not compensated.
It will not be the first time he has locked the gate which gives access to Blackhead Point, also known as Parimahu Beach.
A hikoi was held in summer 2010 after Mr Gordon locked the gate because he was concerned about litter and vandalism.
The hikoi followed a paper road on Mr Gordon's farm, which crosses difficult terrain. Most beachgoers take an alternate farm track to the beach before travelling along the beach to the point.
Mr Gordon said he approached the council seven years ago proposing the farm track route become the official route because of damage to his farm on the unformed paper road and trespassing.
Central Hawke's Bay District Council chief executive John Freeman said the existing paper road was steep in parts and required a bridge over the Waikaraka Stream. A land swap was agreed formalising the informal route people had used for years.
Mr Gordon said while Ngati Kere were "desperate" for access they had made no contribution "to this lengthy saga".
He said a culvert on the paper road, arranged by Mr Freeman before the hikoi, was too small and a large area of flat land had washed away.
Mr Freeman was unaware Mr Gordon was demanding compensation saying there had been no "communication" about it.
Mr Gordon would gain about twice the amount of land from the old paper road as he was giving from the new road.
"It has always been my understanding that this is the compensation he will get for the inconvenience he has put up with over the years," he said.
However, Mr Gordon still had to put up with "irresponsible behaviour" and the mess left behind.
"Some weeks ago I travelled down the proposed new access and discovered large numbers of empty beer bottles, plus many more thrown into our paddocks.
Ngati Kere spokesman David Tipene-Leach said Mr Gordon had been patient.
"It is true that somebody knocked over a gate once and probably true somebody may have left rubbish and somebody may have been rude to them.
"I have a great deal of empathy for a farmer who has to put up with the public who are not appreciative, but the truth is he bought a farm with a paper road on it."
He said there was an unwritten agreement, between Ngati Kere and the previous land-owning family, that access remained.
"People have done that for 140 of the past 150 years. In the last 10 years that Frank has had it, he has no understanding of that history." Mr Freeman said if Mr Gordon vetoed the new road and locked the gate, public right of access would remain on the old paper road and the council could bulldoze a track "right through the guts of his farm".
"That's pointless - why would you mess up a man's farming operation? That's why we have been facilitating this, to make it as less intrusive to his farming operation as possible."
Inland from the point are about 130 undeveloped sections from a village planned in the 19th century. If the paper road was stopped they would need a new easement.
They are owned by Mr Gordon, the Hunter family and the government, with the government sections likely to be part of an upcoming Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
A strip of land above between the high tide mark and Mr Gordon's land may also be part of the settlement.
Dr Tipene-Leach said the proposed Treaty settlement might have unsettled Mr Gordon.
"It makes sense to go down the easy route but the paper road could easily be usable, it just takes a bit of engineering."
