Another delay for Clevedon canal case

A Gold Coast-style canal development that has been planned in some form for more than 20 years has been delayed again, after the developers ran out of time to present their court case.

Community group Clevedon Cares is fighting plans for a gated complex of 269 large houses, each with their own mooring, built around a system of canals 5km from the rural community of Clevedon.

An Environment Court hearing began last month with the community group, representatives of local iwi Ngai Tai Umupuia and the Auckland Regional Council arguing against the developer and Manukau City Council, which supports the development. The allocated two weeks proved too short. Clevedon Cares said the hearing had been adjourned until the third week of September.

The community group says the high-density development just outside Auckland's urban limits would swamp the existing rural village of about 170 houses.

It says the new suburb - which has been slammed as "crass" by Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee - would be too far from the city for residents to use public transport and so car trips from the area would increase.

But lawyers for the developer, Wairoa River Canal Partnership, told the court the manmade canal project would be unlike any other development in New Zealand. It would restore streams and wetlands, allow public access to the river and be planted with kahikatea trees throughout.

The development requires consent to dredge a 1.5km-long channel at the mouth of the Wairoa River and drop the dredged material into the bay.

Manukau City Council approved a modified version of the development in 2007 allowing canal building, building of up to 297 houses and a cafe or shop. The proposal follows schemes at Pauanui, Whitianga and Matarangi where homes are built so boats can tie up virtually at the front door.

The Clevedon canal project is the third set of plans for the land, on the lower reaches of the Wairoa River. In the 1980s there were plans for a 375-berth marina, then in the mid-1990s a 1100-household township based around a system of canals was proposed.

The developer has applied to the court to change some details of the plan approved by Manukau City, including reducing the number of houses from 297 to 269.