Kauri battle: Vector distances itself from owners

Protesters celebrate saving the Kauri in Titirangi today. Photo / New Zealand Herald Photograph / Chris Gorman

Both Auckland Council and Vector are distancing themselves from the owners of a Titirangi property where an ancient kauri tree was due to be axed, after the owners penned an open letter to Aucklanders hinting the organisations may buy the site from them for public use.

Vector has issued a statement saying it was "deeply disappointed" in landowners John Lenihan and Jane Greensmith, blaming the couple for breaching details of a confidential conversation in the open letter sent to media this morning.

It followed an earlier Auckland Council statement, making it clear it would not buy the site at Paturoa Rd, Titirangi.

In their letter, Mr Lenihan and Ms Greensmith -- who are both architects by trade -- said they would not fell the estimated 500-year-old kauri tree, which has been the centre of an environmental protest over the past week, and a rimu tree also on the west Auckland site.

Protesters have been campaigning against an Auckland Council decision to grant consent for the felling of the trees at the property, including one man who has positioned himself high in the kauri's branches to prevent it from getting the chop.

This morning, the couple said they had bought the site in order to build homes to help Auckland's housing crisis "in our own small but optimistic way".

They hit out at Auckland's "very complex, often contradictory and ... outdated planning" laws, and presented a seven-point plan to resolve the situation at Paturoa Rd, which included keeping the two trees and turning the site "from a place of conflict and division to a place of hope".

Their last point stated: "Let's allow Treescape and Vector, iwi and council to own the sites on the public's behalf and let's forgive them too. Give them a chance to try something new and create something better from this current mess."

But that now appears to have been rejected by both the council and Vector.

Auckland deputy mayor Penny Hulse issued a statement ruling out any possibility of the council buying the land.

Vector also issued a strongly-worded statement, saying it was "deeply disappointed to have been dragged into the dispute over the Titirangi kauri tree".

"After following the media coverage with interest, Vector had a confidential conversation with the property owners to explore ways in which Vector could help to save the kauri tree," it said.

"The owners have chosen not to respect that confidentiality, and as a result Vector sees no potential for further engagement with the owners on this matter."

Meanwhile, Ms Hulse said the council would look at how it applies its environmental protection laws at a meeting this morning -- and hit out at Government ministers for stepping into the kauri tree row when the council "followed your rules".

The council had "gone through the process" correctly, she said on Newstalk ZB this morning, but would look at whether it was correctly balancing property rights and environmental protection, saying it was timely given the current review of the Resource Management Act.

"However, the fact that [Conservation Minister] Maggie Barry and [Environment Minister] Nick Smith have weighed into this as two ministers who are responsible for removing the tree protection rules, and who are now giving us a hard time for it, I'm saying this is a really good chance to get round the table with them and say, 'you're reviewing the process, let's make sure that we're not opening ourselves up to this in future, have we dialled back environmental protection too far, and are we cutting the community out too much?'," she said.

"We followed your rules Nick and Maggie, have we got them right?"

Earlier, Dr Smith said he was surprised by Auckland Council's decision to give the go-ahead to chop the kauri down.

"The reality is that we have lost over 95 per cent of the giant kauri that were in the upper part of the North Island and the wheels of government are spending about $20 million on kauri dieback to try and save as many of those trees as possible," he said on TV3's Firstline programme this morning.

"The council did have the discretion under the Resource Management Act to either decline or grant the resource consent. It was a bit surprising a decision was given to grant it."

Protester, Michael Tavares -- who climbed the kauri tree early on Monday -- was preparing to give up his position following the announcement.

"I'm taking the developers good will and coming down today. Thanks to all. There's more to do, but for now we #SavedOurKauri," he tweeted.

Earlier he told TV3's Firstline that his coming down from the tree would not be "the end of the story for the people up here in Titirangi".

"It will be the end of the story of me sitting in a tree, but the developer up here really needs to sit down and have good will talks with the neighbours," he said.

"These two trees are safe -- that's great, but I think it might be time to start having a conversation nationally about our tree protection laws."

The Auckland Development Committee started debating the Titirangi tree consent this morning.

After a lengthy debate to accept it as an extraordinary matter on the agenda, councillors heard presentations from protest organiser Aprilanne Bonar, 48, and Winnie Charlesworth, 55.

The two presented a box containing over 26,000 signed petitions to save the tree.

- Additional reporting: Lincoln Tan of the New Zealand Herald