Township doomed as locals given boot

A community in an idyllic coastal spot has been told it must leave within a year, abandoning baches which have stood on the site for 65 years.

At least 29 homeowners in Little Waihi, to the east of Tauranga near Maketu in the Bay of Plenty, have had their yearly lease terminated by the commercial arm of the Arawa iwi, which owns the land. More than 120 people will be affected.

Many of the baches skirting the estuary are owned by beneficiaries and pensioners, who say they will have nowhere else to live.

Emotions run deep - residents the Weekend Herald spoke to said they would burn their homes to the ground rather than let Te Arawa Management take them over.

The company said it was removing the residents because their poor wastewater systems were causing serious environmental damage to the estuary.

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council plans to build a modern sewage system next year at the earliest, but the settlement uses septic tanks.
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Residents said they signed a "flimsy" licence to occupy, but feel the eviction came without notice or a clear reason, and under severe terms.

It would uproot Maori and Pakeha who have called the estuary home for four generations.

Jackaileen Elsworth, a second-generation resident, said: "My grandchildren's placenta is planted in the soil here. That means everything ... because this is their roots."

Working part-time but "without a cent to her name", she said her only money was in her house. If Te Arawa forced her to leave her home next April, she would burn it. "I'd far sooner help rectify the environmental problem or pay more rates. But under the current circumstances, my house would be an exercise for the Maketu Volunteer Fire Brigade."

Te Arawa director Roku Mihinui said he could not comment until he had spoken directly with the community.

He said the council had been trying to rectify the wastewater problems for five years, and residents knew their baches were damaging the estuary.

The trust's termination of leases has divided the community, as a few elderly residents will be able to stay.

"What are the criteria here?" asked one resident. "It seems as though they've just allowed the elderly to stay in the hope they'll soon pass away."

By Isaac Davison

4:00 AM Saturday May 29, 2010