Northland expressway plan impacts landowners, homes at risk

Landowners face uncertainty while NZTA narrows down the preferred route to the east of SH1 over the Brynderwyns.

• Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced the Northland Expressway route from Warkworth to Whangārei via Brynderwyn Hills.
• Some Northland landowners, including farmer Richard Westlake, will be impacted due to the project.
• NZTA will finalise the route and begin contacting affected landowners in the coming weeks.

Northland landowners are resigned to losing houses and portions of their properties as the Government forges ahead with the Northland Expressway.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop has revealed the earmarked Northland Expressway route will go from Warkworth east of SH1 and over the Brynderwyn Hills, then through to Whangārei.

The decision comes after NZTA also investigated two bypass routes to the west of the Brynderwyns, but found the eastern alignment to be the preferred route.

The Public Works Act allows the Government to acquire the land needed from private landowners for public works such as roads, schools, police stations and railways.

Northland farmer Richard Westlake said his 367ha beef farm, which runs from the corner of SH12 through to Atlas Quarries, will be affected.

Westlake said he will lose one of the two houses he has on the property, along with the farm’s entire water supply from a nearby spring.

The house was his late father’s and has been rented by an elderly couple for the past three years, he said.

“Looking at their proposal, we’ll lose one house; it’s been on the farm forever and a day.

“My dad used to live in it years ago before he died, and now we’ve got renters in it.”

Westlake said he was supportive of the project, as he “knows the road has to be done”.

But communication around the latest developments “could have been better”, he said.

“The reality is it’s going through our place, we know that.

“It had to come through our place in one form or another, there’s nothing we can do about it.

“The biggest thing is they’ve released this information and haven’t spoken to any landowners.

“I know people [in Kaiwaka] who are completely blindsided about it going over there.”

The Northland Corridor project, one of the Roads of National Significance, is a 100km stretch of highway connecting Auckland to Whangārei.

The four-lane highway is being built in three stages:

• The first stage, from Warkworth to Te Hana, is expected to be finished by 2034.
• Phase two is Te Hana to Port Marsden – including the alternative to the Brynderwyn Hills.
• Phase three is Port Marsden to Whangārei.

Northland MP Grant McCallum [right] encouraged affected landowners to seek legal advice and work with NZTA throughout the process.

As part of phase two, NZTA found the eastern side to be more direct with more predictable geology that could be managed through engineering design.

There are still several different routes the road may traverse within what NZTA calls “the emerging preferred corridor”.

It is working to refine the route further, “so we understand more about where the final road will go, and the land we may require for it,” a spokesperson said.

Once the preferred route is approved by the NZTA board in August/September, NZTA will start meeting with affected landowners.

NZTA can’t say how many landowners will be impacted.

“The emerging preferred corridor is a large area and contacting potentially impacted landowners before ... it had been confirmed had the potential to cause unnecessary uncertainty,” a spokesperson said.

“We will begin to contact potentially impacted landowners to let them know they are within the area for the emerging preferred corridor and to provide information in the coming weeks.”

Northland MP Grant McCallum understands how affected landowners will be feeling.

His Maungatūroto family farm is located on two of the routes to the west of SH1.

If chosen, one of the routes would have gone through the back of his farm, which would have reduced its size, while the other option went “clean through the middle”.

McCallum said the family was, on one level, “relieved”.

“The most important thing is to know what’s happening.

“If the expressway were to come through our farm, we’d have had to work through that.

“It’s the uncertainty that’s the challenge.

“That’s why NZTA is working as quickly as possible to work out the preferred route.”

McCallum encouraged affected landowners to seek legal advice, consult experts and “work with NZTA” throughout the process.

A large chunk of forestry land – about 750ha – is also in the emerging preferred corridor area.

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones said an Australian forestry company owned 400ha of forest around the Brynderwyns.

Jones said he had met with a representative of the company and “they appreciate the importance of the road”.

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and animal welfare issues.