Takapuna camp ground survives termination vote

Takapuna Beach Holiday Park. File photo / Janna Dixon

Supporters of the Takapuna waterfront camping ground turned out in force last night in a bid to push for its long-term lease on public reserve and a facelift.

However, the group failed to persuade the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board to change the present situation where the 80-year-old camping ground survives on a month-to-month lease and its infrastructure needs upgrading.

A poll commissioned by the board resulted in about 80 per cent of 7725 respondents choosing an upgraded camping ground ahead of a proposed community marine activity hub on part of its public reserve site.

To loud applause at a packed special meeting of the board, Save Takapuna Beach Holiday Park co leader Jan Gopperth made a plea for the board to "honour the people's wishes" and grant a long-term lease that would encourage upgrading.

"Saving the holiday park preserves the reserve for future generations," she said.

A tirade of speeches from a dozen residents for the iconic holiday spot did not deter board chairman Joseph Bergin from trying to start the ball rolling towards termination of the lease.

He said that in 2012 the board had signed off on a reserve management plan which included the community marine activity sports hub.

Through impressive design, it would take little space in the reserve and would restore free and open community access to the reserve.

Mr Bergin saw no reason to reverse the 2012 decision, which left no place for the camping ground.

The move was lost in a vote after the counter arguments of Mike Cohen, Grant Gillon, Jan O'Connor and an unexpected vote of support from Alison Roe.

The former champion marathon runner said she wanted to see the plans for an upgrade in her old "stomping ground" where she used to run along the waterfront trail.

Mr Bergin said the board would now request a detailed report outlining the process and costs and timeline associated with keeping the camping ground.

He said it was a shame that the board could not give a clear indication and stick to it but the concept for the reserve management plan needed more work.

It probably meant another round of public notification based on what the legal advice was on what the Reserves Act allowed to be done in that setting.

Jan Gopperth said the campaign for the camping ground lease was "60 per cent of the way there" and it would now assess its options.

Although she was disappointed at Mr Bergin's trying to terminate the lease, she was happy to see that Alison Roe "did listen to the people."

She said the board should have sent a strong message to the Harbour Access Trust and Yachting New Zealand to abandon their bid for resource consent on the northern beach reserve.

Harbour Access trust chairman Peter Wall said the meeting was testy and difficult and the result was much as expected, based on the poll results.

He said the trust had spent $600,000 of Sport NZ funds on the camping ground site proposal.

It would continue with its resource consent application to Auckland Council hearings commissioners for the $8.3 million facility, which was fully-funded and included a high-performance sailing centre.

"We are quite confident in terms of the consent being heard through the proper process, and if that needs to go through the Environment Court, then that would be the process we would follow," said Mr Wall.

"We are not discouraged, because that's by far the best site and we have three times looked at alternative sites and this one is a very easy one to tick off."