Development puts Te Puke orchards at risk

Some of Te Puke's best kiwifruit orchards are likely to be ripped up as population growth hits rural pockets of the region.
The population is expected to double within 45 years in the area controlled by Western Bay of Plenty District Council - and new limits for urban development are now out for public consultation.
Up to 12 kiwifruit orchards, totalling 70ha, on the eastern side of No 3 Rd between MacLoughlin Drive and Whitehead Avenue in Te Puke, are targeted for residential development.
Another half-dozen orchards further south off No 2 Rd and around Dudley Vercoe Drive also face extinction.
Some orchardists are not happy.
Rod Bayliss, whose father Walter was a kiwifruit pioneer, was at first shocked when he was told by council officials that his three orchards would probably become sportsfields.
"The land they require rips into the heart of my operation," said Mr Bayliss, who has lived in Whitehead Ave for 25 years.
"Development was always going to happen wherever they draw the line but we have objected.
"I can't see the development coming out our way for another 10 to 15 years. Once it does we will be gone - I don't want to live in town with houses all around me," said Mr Bayliss.
His three orchards produce around 160,000 trays of kiwifruit each year from 15ha.
Mr Bayliss' neighbours John and Carol Dowling are also objecting.
"We don't want to change our lifestyle," said Mr Dowling, whose two orchards produce 100,000 trays a year from 9.5 canopy hectares.
"This is the golden circle - there's not many other people who grow better kiwifruit. There must be other options," he said.
The urban limits for the whole of the Western Bay have been drawn up by Environment Bay of Plenty as the first step in implementing the SmartGrowth planning strategy.
After the two-month public consultation, the areas of future residential and industrial development will be included in Environment BOP's all-empowering regional policy statement.
The boundary surrounding the kiwifruit orchards follows the path outlined in the Western Bay council's 20-year plan for Te Puke.
In a proposed council plan change, the kiwifruit land would be re-zoned residential and active reserves.
But SmartGrowth project manager Ken Tremaine, is appalled by the move. "Bugger that. It's not the intention of SmartGrowth to take away rural land unless there is a very good reason for it.
"We have made a contract with the communities to accommodate the growth within existing urban footprints. If people doing the mapping have wandered into kiwifruit land then that's a matter for very strong debate."
Mr Tremaine said SmartGrowth was forecasting only modest growth for Te Puke and the loss of kiwifruit land was a loss of income for the region.
Te Puke ward councillor Lorna Treloar said the logic of the proposed plan change was to connect Whitehead Ave with Dunlop Rd - that was easy to do and it provided access to the schools. "We are doing an exercise on it and it's not inevitable," she said.
Under the SmartGrowth forecasts, Te Puke's population will grow by 60 per cent by 2051.
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