Cash scrap closes Shore track

Photo / Herald on Sunday

Former Olympian and bankrupt developer Brent Clode has become the most unpopular man in his neighbourhood after a scrap over a footpath.

A popular route with locals, the track from a ridge on Auckland's North Shore to the coast has been closed after decades of use.

The closure came after Clode found the path, from Tizard Rd in Birkenhead, ran across a $2.3m property run by his wife's family trust. He insisted North Shore City Council pay for the use by the public.

Negotiations broke down with a North Shore councillor saying Clode wanted too much, though the kayaker says he had yet to get a proper offer.

Workers from North Shore City Council blocked the path last week, preventing walkers taking the quickest and safest route. Council staff say they needed to close it safely rather than risk a private closure.

The footpath stoush is the latest drama in the financial meltdown of the 1988 Seoul Olympics kayaker.

Clode has been bankrupted and seen his property development company Waterloo Buildings Ltd liquidated.

The collapse of his businesses and multi-million dollar personal guarantees led to a string of court battles.

Clode said he would have shut the track himself if the council had not acted.

"What I can't understand is if you know it's on our land and want to keep it open, why wouldn't you contribute something to the cost? I guess the goodwill runs out after a while."

He said he had warned the council that if it didn't buy the land containing the track, and forced the closure, it would "piss off a whole lot of people".

Clode said the land was worth more than $100,000 - "it's not a huge sum".

Asked about the financial difficulties he faced, Clode said: "We could do with the money, no doubt about that."

He said the council had been given the option of paying rental for the track or refunding the $9000 a year rates bill for the property. In the end, the council had never made a formal offer.

But councillor Grant Gillon said the negotiations had been purely over cash for the land and that they were halted because of disagreement "over a price".

"The track closure is extremely unpopular. Council is still hopeful agreement can be reached in the future.

"Council is doing everything it can to sort it out."

He said an alternate path had been opened, although there were concerns its steepness posed dangers - particularly for those with disabilities.

New Supercity councillor George Wood said: "It seems to me [that it would be] a matter of finding the appropriate level of compensation."

Resident Sylvia Zlami, who lives near the top of the track, said the closure had left a large number of locals "irate". The track had been commonly used by a "steady stream of people".

She said she had difficulty finding information from the council.

"It was 'speak to the hand'."

Creditors seeking house

This summer could be the last spent in their $2.3million Birkenhead house for Brent Clode and his wife, Joanne Cooper.

A creditor from Clode's collapsed property group is trying to have the house sold after it was used as security for a series of loans worth about $35 million.

There is a caveat on the property - a legal device meaning the land can't be sold or subdivided without the High Court's permission. Justice Raynor Asher said legal action used "vexatiously and improperly" to get an injunction halting the mortgagee sale appeared to be for "short-term practical advantage".