Mayor adamant Whangateau baches will stay

The land the baches are on has been historically designated a cemetery.

Rodney Mayor John Law has rejected calls from the Department of Conservation for his council to clamp down on illegal baches on the shores of Whangateau Harbour.

Mr Law said he played as a boy in the harbour, which lies between Leigh and Omaha.

"The fact is those baches have been there for ever and a day and I absolutely support them staying," he said.

The department this year demanded to know how much longer the situation at Whangateau would be "tolerated" by the council.

The baches are on reserve land administered by DoC and it believes they should not be there.

It also has concerns over illegal sewage discharges and illegal access by vehicles over tidal flats.

DoC spokesman Warwick Murray said he had not spoken to Mr Law.

"Essentially it comes back to exclusive occupation of public land, so I guess that's something we will certainly look at with John Law," he said. "But in the end it won't necessarily influence our position."

The land on which the baches sit has historically been designated a cemetery. It has around 200 graves and is thought to be about two-thirds full.

Cemetery trustees or their relatives have continued to occupy the baches as trustees under the Burial and Cremations Act.

Mr Law said any resolution that came before the council to get rid of them would almost certainly be defeated.

"If I read my councillors right, I would think [any resolution to remove them] would be thrown out," he said.

The baches are believed to have evolved from old Army huts built for American servicemen during World War II. DoC has been in a similar and long-running battle over baches on Rangitoto Island. Mr Murray said it lost the last legal round and was still exploring its options.