Waikato Regional Council has approved a $200,000 grant towards the NZ Coastal Trust’s purchase of 30 hectares of land at the northern end of Wainuiototo in the Coromandel Peninsula.

Due to the need to share sensitive information relating to the application, the matter was discussed behind closed doors in a public excluded session of the 24 February council meeting, with public reporting of the decision unanimously supported.

The trust made news in December when it purchased the land at New Chums Beach for more than $2 million to put a stop to controversial development plans. The Preserve New Chum for Everyone group, mana whenua and the New Zealand Environmental Defence Society were behind the fundraising drive to support the trust’s land purchase.

Councillors heard there was just three weeks to raise the funds and the trust secured significant contributions from three individuals who agreed to underwrite the offer pending the result of grant applications to institutional and philanthropic entities.

Last November, the trust applied for $500,000 from Waikato Regional Council’s Narural Heritage Fund, reducing the request to $400,000. The fund is derived from a portion of the Natural Heritage Targeted Rate which is currently $5.80 per property.

During the meeting, concerns were raised by councillors about whether a grant of $400,000 would deplete the Natural Heritage Fund and compromise its ability to support other applications.

In a vote of 9-5, a substantive motion was passed which will see the trust receive $200,000, and a new council consider granting an additional $200,000 in December 2022. Councillors Stu Husband, Pamela Storey, Fred Lichtwark, Kathy White and Hugh Vercoe voted against the motion.

Waikato Regional Council Chair Russ Rimmington said there was overall support for the grant, but councillors had sought a reassurance from the trust that with public funds would come public access.

“This is a piece of New Zealand paradise and it’s clear why so many have contributed to protect it. But by committing public money it’s assumed there will be a way for the wider community to enjoy it too.”

The trust confirmed during the meeting that it would be available to the public, but said the land is rugged and tracks may have limited accessibility. It is considering various aspects of related public access, education/interpretation and community involvement in the management of the land block. Any development of walking tracks will need to consider forest health and avoid the potential for kauri dieback spread, councillors were told.

It is expected the trust and its local partners will raise funds as required for things such as ongoing pest and weed management and interpretive signage.

There is strong local support for volunteer effort. Land immediately adjacent to the north of the NZ Coastal Trust property includes some of the predator control areas for the Pukewharariki Ngahere and Wai Landscape Project being run by Te Ara Hou Kennedy Bay Ltd and currently partly funded by a Natural Heritage Fund grant.

The retrospective contribution to the purchase of the land would enable the protection of the forest behind New Chums Beach in perpetuity, with the likely enhancement of its ecological values in the long term through removal of pest plants and animals and exclusion of development, a report said.

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