Grant Tucker says fellow residents are welcome to use his driveway to launch their boats - except his immediate neighbours with whom he has a long-standing feud. Photo / John Stone
A neighbours-at-war stoush unfolding at Whangarei Heads has those involved threatening to take matters into their own hands.
A private driveway, belonging to Grant Tucker, overhangs his property boundary by about two metres, extending partially onto a Whangarei District Council-owned beach accessway which is still wide enough for public access
on foot.
Immediate neighbours Mac and Judy Redmond have a long-running feud with Mr Tucker and are lobbying Whangarei District Council over what they say is his "theft of public land".
Mr Tucker has in the past hung a gate across the driveway, but said he has not done so since he was ordered to remove it by the Council, something disputed by his immediate neighbours.
The Advocate visited Mr Tucker who said he landscaped and built the driveway in 1996 following advice from a council official. The area he built on was formerly an open drain which could not be traversed to get to the beach. Mr Tucker reasoned that, if it had not been for him, there would be no beach access at all.
