Whanganui couple’s stance over front yard cabin prompts district plan rethink

Rachael Woodhead's cabin has been in place since February. Photo / Mike Tweed

A couple’s fight to keep their front yard cabin could lead to a change in Whanganui District Council’s’s district plan.

Rachael and Mike Woodhead put the cabin on their Durie Hill Property in February to make room for their niece, and it has remained in place despite the council issuing a $750 infringement.

Under the district plan, accessory buildings in front of a main residence are forbidden because “they negatively affect the appearance of a property, which impacts street appeal”.

Rachael Woodhead said she had meetings in good faith with council chief executive David Langford and district councillor Kate Joblin in recent weeks.

“I understand that [the] council has to abide by its plan but, at the same time, this particular part of it doesn’t make any sense,” Woodhead said.

“Resource consent for our cabin has a starting point of $2600, but if it’s out the back of the property it’s zero.

“A significant amount of people in Whanganui couldn’t afford that.”

There was already a homelessness problem in Whanganui and more tents were popping up at the Anzac Parade freedom camping site all the time, she said.

The couple’s property has insufficient room to put the cabin at the back.

Joblin holds the council’s housing and homelessness portfolio.

She said councillors were interested in discussing and dealing with the issue.

“It’s very firmly on our radar and is part of our conversations as we review the district plan.

“The whole idea of not being able to put a unit on your front - when we’ve got a housing crisis - doesn’t pass the sniff test.”

Kate Joblin says the issue is "very firmly" on the council's radar.

Woodhead said she had been told by Langford the council was holding off filing court papers to enforce the infringement.

“I guess if everything turns to custard, it will be back on the table.”

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said the Woodheads’ case would provoke the council to think differently in the district plan about housing options.

As well as the district plan review, plans are under way for a council-led social housing entity, with an aim to build 1000 new dwellings in 10 years at a cost of about $300 million.

“It‘s actually a very sensible approach Rachael’s undertaking, but it’s not in the rule book at the moment,” Tripe said.

“We are listening to people, and it would be interesting to find out what prompted [the Woodheads] to put that solution in place and how it fixed their problem.”

The couple’s niece Sabina Halliday moved from Whangārei to Whanganui last October following a period of family instability, with Woodhead saying in June she would “do everything I can to make sure she doesn’t feel like she has to go”.

Tripe said the council was looking at ways to make people’s “barrier to entry” as low as possible regardless of the project.

“If this [cabin] prompts us to change the rules through the district plan process, then bring it on.

“It’s empowering our community to have a roof over their head where they might not have had it otherwise.”

Woodhead said she had been “absolutely ropeable” during early dealings with the council about the cabin, but that had turned to cautious optimism.

“If we had to pay $2600 [for a resource consent application], maybe we could make that work somehow, but it’s not just about us.”

Allowing cabins at the front of properties could potentially offer pensioners another income option through renting them out, she said.

“They might be able to subsidise their rates a little bit, which have gone up.

“You’ve got to think outside the box.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.