Land titles disputed at Birdlings Flat

Press, 14 December 1985, Page 8

Land titles disputed at Birdlings Flat

Some property owners at Waikahehe Beach, near Birdlings Flat, face a ban on building because of uncertainty surrounding land titles in the area.

The Wairewa County Council will not issue building permits to any of the 57 lot owners because of uncertainty and some dispute about section boundaries.

However, a “pegging committee” of the Waikahehe Beach Association has drawn up a scheme plan which subdivides about seven hectares of land which has been owned on an

informal share basis since 1959.

The plan was presented to the council at its monthly meeting yesterday by association representatives, who seek the council’s approval of it.

However, some members of the association and other residents of the small community oppose the plan, alleging that it was drawn up unfairly and varies considerably from another plan made in 1980.

One of the opponents of the plan, Mr M. A. van Dorp, said it was entirely different from that drawn

up in 1980 and meant that his section had been reduced.

The new plan had penalised some others, he said.

However, the president of the association, Mr Arthur Lewis, said the new plan was fair and only walkways had been significantly reduced in size.

It would be impossible to get every member of the association to agree on dividing the land into formal plots, he said. Another member of the association, Mr V. H. Burke, said before the meeting that the ultimate aim was to get separate titles to enable further building. Land could more easily be bought and sold and the cases of some people buying property on Crown-owned “paper roads” could be avoided, he said. The council voted to accept the plan in principle but not to ratify it until the association had given its own full support for it. The association will hold its annual meeting in January and a decision on whether to accept the plan is expected. Building permits will still be withheld in the meantime.