KEY POINTS:
While Auckland's coastal network of military forts and gun emplacements saw little or no war action, they are shaping up as the site of a new battle.
On one side are the bands of volunteers who spend hundreds of hours a year restoring the sites, protecting them from vandals, giving tours and raising money.
On the other is the newly formed Auckland Coastal Defence Historical Trust, a group of business people with connections to Rotary and an interest in history.
They want to take over the marketing and running of North Head in Devonport, Fort Takapuna, Motutapu Island and Stony Batter on Waiheke Island to boost visitor numbers and raise money for restoration by providing pre-booked tours for a fee.
In the middle is the Department of Conservation, charged with managing the sites, and similar locations on Rangitoto, Motuihe Island, Bastion Pt and Cheltenham Beach and Castor Bay on the North Shore.
The department will decide, within a couple of months, if the new charitable trust will get the concession.
Volunteer Sue Pawley is angry the 10-year-old Stony Batter Protection and Restoration Society may be usurped by the new trust.
Pawley regularly puts in 12-hour days at the World War II tunnels, built in secret to guard against attack from German and Japanese ships.
She and a small group of volunteers keep Stony Batter open to the public most days of the year.
While visitors can take a guided tour, they are also free to roam the network of tunnels, bunkers and gun emplacements on their own, armed with a torch and a brochure.
Pawley has started a petition to present to DoC, claiming the new trust will restrict visiting hours, force people to take guided tours and increase the cost of visiting the site.
Visitors to Stony Batter pay $8 an adult or $25 for a family of up to six.
A guided tour is extra but Pawley says most people prefer to go on their own.
Volunteers also worry the new trust will not put the takings back into restoration, as they have done.
Retired Waiheke resident and Rotarian Ken Sowden, who is spearheading the new application to DoC, said the trust would prioritise how takings were spent across the sites.
It would hire trained employees to run the organisation, including a general manager and staff at each site. Board members would receive a fee and volunteers could also be paid, depending on takings.
The trust would seek sponsorship to start the project and proper marketing would result in increased revenue from higher visitor numbers.
Sowden conceded Stony Batter would probably be closed during winter, when visitor numbers dropped, apart from specific times.
He said volunteers would continue to be a crucial part of the plan and predicted restoration projects would proceed more quickly because of increased revenue.
DoC community relations manager Bill Trusewich said the proposal to unite several coastal defence sites under one banner and market them together was "a great idea".
"We are all targeted with increasing tourist and recreational opportunity."
DoC would consider all options, including profit-making plans, but he favoured the trust's non-profit proposal, which would use volunteers alongside "a lot of business nous".
Michael Pritchard, chairman of the Tamaki Reserve Protection Trust, which helps look after Fort Takapuna, had concerns about public access. "Will it be Stony Batter on Tuesdays, Fort Takapuna on Wednesdays?"
DoC archaeologist Dave Veart said restoration work done by the Stony Batter team was "exemplary" but he worried about the number of hours some, particularly Pawley, put in to keep the site open every day.
Trusewich said he was in favour of paid guides if the sites could sustain them.
