Huge new subdivision blamed as earth moves

Some Raumanga residents fear a huge subdivision, the biggest in Whangarei for decades, is putting their homes at risk.
Whangarei Heights Ltd has been granted resource consent to build 253 homes over eight stages in the next 10 years at the end of Raumanga Heights Dr.
The project will involve about 360,000 cu m of earthworks and Raumanga Heights Dr., the only access to the development, will have to be modified to cater for the large number of trucks expected.
A spokesman for local residents, David Child-Dennis, said five property owners had called in engineers after cracks started appearing on their land. He claims those cracks have emerged only since developers began clearing vegetation on the proposed site directly below their homes earlier this year.
He said the cleared vegetation had played a vital role in stabilising properties along Raumanga Heights Dr., Isola and Tauroa Sts. He accused the Whangarei District Council's hearings committee of completely ignoring that point.
But the chairwoman of the council committee that approved the application, Robin Lieffering, said engineers from her council and the Northland Regional Council had found the cracks were not linked to the development. "Those engineers assessed the movements of the ground around those properties were not fresh." She suggested the cracks were a result of the ground being poorly compacted when the houses were built.
Mrs Lieffering said the committee took the residents' concerns seriously, and had imposed a raft of conditions to address them.
The developer was required to provide detailed plans and assessments on all issues including land stability throughout the 10-year project. "All the way through there will be considerable monitoring," she said.
Mr Child-Dennis acknowledged some homes had been built on poorly compacted land, but said that had been mitigated by the presence of vegetation below their properties. "This whole subdivision, this whole face is moving and it's not slow." He said a similar development stalled 30 years ago because of concerns about land stability in the area.
Raumanga Heights Dr. resident Ken Carter said subsidence at the back of his property had caused the land under his deck to move about 10cm, and large cracks had formed in a bank behind his house.
"We came back from Australia in September and discovered a slip on the bank where our deck joins," he said. He is still waiting for a final engineer's report but suspects the cracks and holes were caused by heavy machinery used at the site in July to clear vegetation.
He said the machinery shook the trees free causing the land to crack and become unstable.
Mr Carter said he approached the council with his concerns but said he had no luck. The Earthquake Commission is now involved and Mr Carter is seeking legal advice.