Queenstown Lakes District councillor Samuel Belk. PHOTO: ODT FILES A Queenstown farmer, who is also a district councillor, has bought more rural Gibbston land to shut it off from development and teach people about the area’s history. Gibbston-based Samuel Belk, who owns Stronsay Farm with his wife, Sherry Thornburg, bought from Ngāi Tahu a 13ha parcel, formerly used for mining tailings, in 1999. They have turned it from ‘‘absolute trash land’’ into open pasture the public can access. Last year they then bought an adjacent 5ha strip from Ngāi Tahu. ‘‘Neither of us wanted it to be developed so they said, ‘we’ll sell it to you if we can put a 100-year first right of refusal on it’.’’ Unlike the first strip of land, there was also a memorandum of understanding between the seller and the buyer. ‘‘We could buy and take title to the land but it would remain open space for locals to use — no motorised vehicles, subdivision, houses and the land will be cleared, regenerated with natives and some portion, hopefully, would turn into pasture. ‘‘There’s a huge penalty clause if I decide to put a building on it — I don’t want buildings on it.’’ They also agreed it would be a teaching site with story boards displaying the area’s history. In pre-colonial days, Ngāi Tahu used the strip on their way to the West Coast to get pounamu. It was then mined three times for gold between the 1860s and 1980. Mr Belk, who has been a vocal opponent of Gibbston Valley Wines’ fast-track housing plans, said he did not believe in land ownership in the legal sense. ‘‘If people can connect with the land walking, riding and it’s restorative, if they know its history, then everyone becomes a steward of the natural environment. ‘‘And they’re less likely to see land and open space as something to be exploited for subdivision. ‘‘With all the pressure on rural land, particularly in this district, I’m hoping others might take up the stewardship approach.’’ Open space was precious, which was why he and his wife settled in Gibbston 31 years ago, Mr Belk said. ‘‘Overseas, there is ‘right to roam’ in the UK, jokaisenoikeudet in Finland, allemansratten in Sweden. ‘‘That’s what we want to practise here.’’ Mr Belk said their latest parcel was even worse for wear than their first — ‘‘it’s overgrown with gorse ... and full of rabbits’’. When asked about how much he paid for it he said, ‘‘given the encumbrance and given what I’ve got to spend on it, which is going to be in the hundreds of thousands, it’s a fair price’’. ‘‘... It certainly wasn’t free.’’ philip.chandler@odt.co.nz
