Contentious peninsula bach may get to stay

Port Levy bach owners have been left frustrated after a reprieve was granted to a contentious neighbouring holiday home.

The bach owners want the holiday home removed and took the issue to the Te Pataka o Rakaihautu Banks Peninsula Community Board. 

The board recommended Christchurch City Council grant the owners of the holiday home a 25-year lease on the condition public access was not obstructed.

Spokesperson for the bach owners Ian Culpan said complaints have been made against the holiday home for a multitude of reasons, including a large macrocarpa hedge and a locked gate that restricts public access to Port Levy during high tide.

There are also concerns over a belief waste is being disposed into the bay, and rocks from the foreshore being used to create an elevated path.

However, Culpan’s primary issue with the holiday home is its legality.

A city council staff member told the community board it was built without consent on a paper road, once owned by the Crown, and by the city council since 1974.

The home’s owner Lindsay Woodward, who now lives in Australia, told the community board the land was given to his family by local iwi about 80-90 years ago. But neither Woodward nor the city council staff member have any evidence of this. Woodward’s family use the bach as a holiday home.

Woodward said the claim regarding waste disposal was “ridiculous”. He said he has taken steps to provide better access to the bay, such as removing the gate and trimming the hedge.

Woodward said he had received no complaints regarding the bach’s existence until the “Johnny come latelies” arrived in Port Levy.

He wants the holiday home to stay as it is meaningful to his family’s legacy.

The community board has recommended the macrocarpa hedge be trimmed to the council’s satisfaction or removed entirely, a retaining wall be removed and the foreshore returned to its natural state.

Investigations regarding waste disposal are processes that would need to be conducted by Environment Canterbury.

City council senior network engineer Michael Thomson felt this solution addressed both parties’ concerns, admitting it was not perfect but a compromise.

The city council will make a final decision on the bach in May.

Culpan told Bay Harbour News the community board recommendation was “alarming” and predicts it will lead to inaction.

“Albeit you disagree with it, albeit you don’t like it, that’s the price you pay for democracy.”