Baches on Crown reserve face cull

Some of the seven baches have only a rock wall between them and the sea.

A group of bach owners near Leigh are the latest to be targeted for eventual eviction by the Department of Conservation.

But the baches hugging the shoreline at Whangateau Harbour, between Omaha and Leigh, are unlikely to be given up lightly.

Some of the seven baches have only a rock wall between them and the sea and all are accessible only along the mudflats by vehicle. They can also be reached only through a locked gate.

They are on Crown-owned reserve land and therefore subject to DoC control. But the reserve was designated a cemetery under the Burial and Cremations Act in the 1890s. There are around 200 graves and it is thought to be about two-thirds full.

Under the act, cemetery trustees are allowed to issue short-term leases to parts of unused cemetery land, such as for grazing, but at Whangateau that went one step further when old Army huts originally built for American servicemen during World War II became small baches over succeeding decades.

The baches are understood to be used by the cemetery trustees or extended family on five-year renewable leases, although two trustees, Phillip Ashton and Terry Riley, say they do not own a bach.

Mr Riley said there would be "bad feeling" if DoC and the Rodney District Council tried to remove the dwellings. The baches were "not getting in the way of anyone" and rental paid for upkeep of the cemetery. He would not say how much owners paid a year but it is understood to be as little as $500.

The cemetery issue has clouded the legalities at Whangateau over removal of all private dwellings on reserve land administered by DoC, a policy it has increasingly enforced in recent years.

One of the best-known examples is the situation on Rangitoto Island, where DoC has been fighting to evict bach occupiers for more than a decade. The department lost the last legal round and is exploring its options.

Phillip Ashton said there was nothing wrong with driving along the beach to the baches because it was done in other places such as Ninety Mile Beach and as far as he knew none discharged sewage into the sea.

The council appears to be the first regulatory body to have to tackle the situation. It is charged with enforcing provisions such as those in the Building Act and sewage discharge standards. In a letter in May, DoC demanded to know how much longer the situation at Whangateau would be "tolerated" by the council.

Council property manager Mark Johannsen said it was unlikely the baches could ever reach acceptable planning standards.

"It is reserve land and effectively the trustees have got it tied up in private use," he said.

DoC spokeswoman Fiona Oliphant said the legal situation was "tricky" because of the cemetery but the department was in no doubt the land was reserve and the trustees were not legally appointed to administer it.

"From DoC's perspective they have no authority to be there."