Thursday, September 13, 2012

Whanganui Chronicle front page today

Have been keeping things quiet lately on purpose with a lot of things going on in the background...until today. The article in the paper today was not of our doing. The bach-owners complained to the Chronicle today...not the Trust. There are two comments that one of the bachowners Mr Baron makes in the article which I will clear up. His first was that his family have been there for over one hundred years. Whanau have an urupa two kilometres from the beach which goes back further than that. Another view would be to think "they have been taking advantage of the situation for over a 100 years". Unfortunately his comment saying that they got permission from a farmer to build there is probably correct. The answer though is that the farmer has NEVER owned it. The bach-owners know they have been living on borrowed time for years and I totally empathise. There have been generations coming out and enjoying the white-baiting, the fishing, the isolation, the environment. It is a beautiful beach and I wouldn't want to go either if in the same position. However, we cannot cater to a small minority who are not beneficiaries, whose dwellings do not meet building code compliance and where they do not own the land. It is wrong. If the situation was reversed and we were building a bach on their beach I doubt very much the outcome would be any different. I advised some of them that we would invite them in for discussions once the Trust was in a position to move forward. Their response is to organise a meeting between themselves with a view to take us to Court. Really?! We are not stopping anyone from using the beach. We would never stop anyone using and enjoying the area. This could have been done with honour, respect and dignity... My opening line said I had been quiet lately. The article today will ensure that I cannot keep quiet any longer.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2012 at 4:55 PM

    Some common sense is needed here.

    If the Trust or beneficiaries build structures on the property the land will still be re-rated and higher rates will have to be paid. If that is the case then surely the Trust is best to keep whatever income can be received from the Baches. There is still plenty of room to do what the Trust and beneficiaries want to do on the land.

    There is no point demanding the Baches be pulled down if the Trust is to invite them back later. The cost of building compliant buildings would be unreasonable and would be unlikely Bach owners would want such costs or even be able to afford them. They would never return.

    These current Baches are not permanently lived in and were built before most present building code requirements came into force. With some changes to sewerage (chemical toilets etc) they may still pass muster. Some may even qualify to be permitted as sheds? After all that is all most of them are. Do the Craig's have a permit for their hay-barn shed? Probably not and when the Council knows for sure that people do not permanently live there, then they are likely to drop their interest in the matter.

    Several Baches are also outside of the Trust land and on the paper road which is Crown land so the Council should be approaching these Baches directly and then this would not be Trust responsibility, at least for these Baches.

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 27, 2012 at 5:54 AM

    Where is the Trust going to get the money from to build a camping ground and who the hell would want to camp out there with all the wind that blows and no facilities. Even that cycle track is not going to bring in droves of people so I hope the Trust sees sense and doesn't waste money they haven't got on pipe dreams and fantasies. Just my opinion anyways and the comments above seem reasonable. The clan radicals need to pull their heads in and think a little bit more.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 2, 2012 at 12:26 PM

    I would like to see a financial statement for the Trust placed on this website we can all know the financial position of the Trust given that there has never been any payment to any shareholders. There has been a lot of money collected over the years from leasing the land to the farmer and from the bach holders but where has it all gone? This all needs to be transparent rather than everyone being kept in the dark.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 3, 2012 at 1:44 PM

    The 12.26PM. post above is a good idea i'd like to no also bro

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  5. AnonymousOctober 12, 2012 at 3:59 AM

    Whats happening here? Have the baches gone yet? What is the money situation? People are all over the world and never get sent anything and it would cost lots anyway so you guys can put it up here so we can all see. How bout an update Casey. I see there was another newspepr story about it to http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/news/united-we-thrive-divided-we-fail/1566172/

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  6. AnonymousNovember 1, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    $15,000 a year from the farmer (even more now) and $250 a year from 5-10 Baches over 12 years is about $200,000. Why does the Trust only have $40,000 in the bank?

    Where has all this money gone? What has it been wasted on?

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  7. AnonymousNovember 1, 2012 at 8:46 PM

    What good is an Auckland Chairman for Whangaehu/Whanganui interests?

    ReplyDelete

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