One Government ministry is hinting the acquisition of Ngunguru sandspit was through a land swap; another that it paid for it by selling an unwanted asset. Yesterday, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson and Whangarei MP Phil Heatley made no bones about the fact the deal was sealed through sandspit owners Todd Property Group taking over the Government's long-vacant Napier Hospital site.
At the same time as they told Ngunguru locals the sandspit was safe, in Wellington Health Minister Tony Ryall announced the old Napier Hospital site, which had been on the market since 2006, had finally been sold.
Whatever the niceties or nitty gritty of the negotiations, the news that the spit was now in public hands was greeted with cheers and tears by a crowd of residents, the Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society, school children and a clutch of local body politicians.
The emotional response came after years of negotiations and protests to prevent Todd Property Group and its forerunner company Landco subdividing a large wad of the ecologically and culturally-valuable spit.
Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society chairperson Mary Britton said she was thrilled with the news the spit would now be a reserve.