Developers again target world-class beauty spot

Thousands of beachgoers who oppose development at the pristine Coromandel beach.

Fresh plans have been lodged for a subdivision near a world-renowned Coromandel beach, reigniting opposition by a group fighting to keep the area free of development.

New Chum Beach, accessible only by walking across a headland from nearby Whangapoua, has been ranked among the most beautiful on the planet and was this week mentioned by New York magazine.

Five years after development was first planned at the beach - triggering protest from thousands of beachgoers, among them TV host Phil Keoghan and rugby star Richard Kahui - a separate application was lodged with Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) this month.

The group Preserve New Chum For Everyone yesterday reaffirmed its opposition to any development, arguing the area should "remain in its pristine state". However, the developer told the Herald beachgoers would notice no difference.

The development relates to a 60.7ha lot Ross and Deidre Mear jointly own with businessman George Kerr, and is separate from a development application made for the area in January by Coastal Land Trust Holdings and at present on hold.

It covers a four-lot subdivision, all 15ha in size, along with a fifth 1.2ha conservation lot which would allow public access along the beach and would be managed by a proposed charitable trust. The Mears, who have owned the land for 12 years, said the proposed subdivision would not be visible from the beach.

"The only difference would be when you get down to the northern end of the beach in 10 and 15 years - when you look back you are going to see pohutukawa trees, nikau palms, manuka and kanuka, rather than farmland," Mr Mear said.

"Short of locking the land up, or the Crown or TCDC buying it off us, I don't think you could ask for a better solution, basically."

But there would "inevitably" be people who opposed the plan in principle, he said.

Mr Mear has asked that the application be publicly notified, which is expected to happen before the end of the year.

The public can make submissions on the proposal.

Preserve New Chum spokeswoman Linda Cholmondeley Smith said her group did not have a problem with development - "just not behind a beach that has such national and international significance".

"New Chum represents how we would like the rest of the world to see New Zealand, an island nation at the bottom of the world relatively unspoiled, with a population and a government who care deeply about the natural beauty of their country.

"But how much longer can we make this claim to fame?"

Ms Cholmondeley Smith felt the new application should be considered in the context of potential wider development in the area.

The timeframe for submissions also needed to be long enough for people around the country, and around the world, to have their say, she said.

This year, Keoghan told TV3 that the beach was so highly regarded around the world that it was an "asset to us".

"We need to think about whether we might look back at this time and think about the decisions we make today," the host of The Amazing Race added.

Thames Coromandel Mayor Glenn Leach said his council wanted New Chum to be somewhere anyone could visit, while still protecting its special and unique character.

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