By ANNE BESTON
A pristine Coromandel coastal property given to Auckland University to help fund an expanded business school will pass into public ownership.
The Government has paid $3.54 million for the 149ha property after difficult negotiations with the university.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter is determined that no such wrangle will occur
again over land held by a state-funded institution.
The land was given to the university last year by American millionaire Paul Kelly.
The property, at the northern end of Waikawau Bay, is an almost-perfect half-moon of white sandy beach with pohutukawa-covered headlands at each end.
The bay has no houses because the Department of Conservation already owns the beachfront.
Mr Carter, who led the charge to buy the land, pulled together a deal involving the Nature Heritage Fund, DoC's land acquisition fund and the Government's discretionary fund but he is unhappy at the hoops his department had to jump through to get it.
He wants to review the selling of ecologically important land by institutions partly or fully funded by the Government.
He believes the Conservation Department should have first right of refusal.
"I am just delighted we have been able to save Waikawau Bay but I want to set up a process whereby we don't get into a bidding war through a real estate agency," Mr Carter said.
He will put a paper before the Cabinet in the next two weeks.
Environmental Defence Society chairman Gary Taylor and Forest and Bird president Gerry McSweeney both welcomed the move.
Mr McSweeney said it would have been a tragedy if the university had sold its windfall property for development.
"The Government is caught by its desire to make universities lean and mean and in the process it was putting New Zealand's heritage up on the blocks," he said.
Registrar Warwick Nicoll said the university was pleased with the deal. He said it was important the tender process had been completed to show the university was clear about how it would deal with similar situations in the future.
He would not say whether the university would still get money under the "partnerships for excellence" programme, whereby private funds raised by universities are matched by the Government.
"That's a separate issue," he said.
Mr Taylor, who fought to persuade the Government to put up the money for Waikawau Bay, said he was pleased the hard work paid off.
"This is a win-win for the university and the public, which gets a piece of one of the last undeveloped beaches on the Coromandel," he said.
Herald Feature: Environment
