An artist's impression of the promised facilities at luxury gated community Whitford Manor Estate in rural Auckland, which has been placed into receivership.
An artist's impression of the promised facilities at luxury gated community Whitford Manor Estate in rural Auckland, which has been placed into receivership.
The company behind a gated Auckland estate that had to truck sewage away due to problems with wastewater infrastructure has gone into receivership.
Whitford Manor Estate in rural East Auckland is marketed as an exclusive subdivision that marries high-end country estate homes with a setting reminiscent of an English village.
But the dream of English country living turned sour for some residents who bought into the development, after the nauseating smell of raw human waste began permeating the upmarket subdivision last year.
Speaking to the Herald last year, developer Kevin Murphy blamed a contractual dispute with some residents for the delay, which he said made it difficult for him to sell enough sections to bring in necessary revenue to complete the 81-lot development.
Now the subdivision has taken another hit.
On August 4, KPMG officials Leon Bowker and Luke Norman were appointed receivers and managers of Le Coz Ltd, the company behind the Whitford Manor Estate.
Murphy is listed as the company’s sole director and shareholder.
“The appointment of the receivers follows a prolonged period of subdued sales activity and the failure of the developer to meet key milestones for the development,“ Bowker told the Herald.
“The receivers have now assumed day-to-day control of the development and land sale process and will be working closely with all relevant stakeholders to progress with the development and execute a revised sales strategy.”
Murphy declined to comment today when contacted by the Herald, but said he would be willing to provide a statement at a later date, “when we have some certainty”.
A notice of appointment of receivers says Bowker and Norman would now oversee “all the company’s present and after acquired personal property and mortgaged land”.
The appointment had been made under the powers of a general security agreement in favour of MC Whitford Pty Ltd.
‘It’s revolting’
In September, the Herald spoke to residents who said the smell of raw sewage was making them gag.
“It’s revolting,” said Robyn Newman-Hall, who along with her partner Jim Brown were members of a vocal group of residents angry at a lack of progress building a new wastewater treatment plant.
Newman-Hall and Brown purchased a section, built a home for their retirement and were among the first residents to move into the exclusive gated community.
Whitford Manor Estate resident Robyn Newman-Hall. Photo / Michael Craig
They paid their deposit on the land in 2017 and felt they had waited long enough for the facilities advertised: a private wastewater plant that produces potable water, a bore to give households a freshwater top-up, a gym, swimming pool, a tennis court and other amenities.
After a four-year wait for a fully-functioning wastewater system, residents protested on the roadside outside the estate with placards in June last year to pressure Auckland Council to act.
Being a rural development, a private wastewater treatment plant was required and planned to be built on the neighbouring Whitford Park Golf Course – but ran into problems and was instead built on the estate.
It took several years for Murphy to reapply for a variation to the discharge consent, which involved an out-of-court settlement with the Whitford Estuary Conservation Society and local iwi Ngāi Tai.
Whitford Manor Estate in rural Auckland has been placed into receivership. Photo / Google
The consent was finally lodged last year and sought to discharge treated wastewater through two wetlands and the private stormwater network to Turanga Creek.
Matters between Murphy and the Whitford Manor Estate Residents Society (WMERS) led to legal action between the parties, with the society saying it ran up a bill of $300,000.
Speaking last year, Murphy said the facilities would be built when money for building them was not being used for legal costs, and overdue invoices were paid by the society.
“There have been a challenging set of circumstances which have led us to the point where we sit today. Despite the obstacles faced over this time, we have every intention of completing the development,” he said.
Murphy said his development company, Le Coz, had also faced issues with the council’s stormwater division over water and wastewater solutions for the wider Whitford area, including plans to use land at the estate for wetlands without consulting Le Coz.
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