Farmer?s plea: Stop subdividing rural land

Waihakeke farmer Chris Engel describes rural land as New Zealand's 'rainforest'.
"Once it's cut up and taken from production, it's lost forever. Who's the guardian of this precious asset in Wairarapa, I'd like to know."
This heartfelt plea comes from a furious and frustrated Mr Engel, who's concerned the region's rural land is being broken up, especially around the Carterton district, without careful planning.
"We get all upset about historic buildings and Maori burial sites and there's laws and committees to protect them, but who's looking after the land?"
He says to ignore the invasion on to farm land is to "ignore it at the peril of generations to come."
Mr Engel loves the land so much, he admits he's become obsessive about protecting rural pastures, to the extent that he bought up five lifestyle properties in recent years, when they came on the market, incorporating them into his dairy farm.
He also keeps a close eye on what subdivisions are encroaching on to farmland and officially objects whenever he can.
His latest submission is one of just three objections to a break up of 29ha of grazing land between Kent Street and Anderson's Line west of Carterton. It is backed up by Jim Weston, the provincial president of Wairarapa Federated Farmers, who states his organisation is against subdividing productive farm land for housing.
Mr Engel questions the point of documents such as district plans which aim to protect land use and create careful planning of areas "because zoning does not seem to matter at all, you just go and request a resource consent and the rest is history."
"I wonder why have zoning at all. It used to be 10ha minimum on rural land, then we went down to 3ha and now the proposed district plan is talking about 1ha blocks around Carterton."
In his submission he says there is still plenty of land within the borough of Carterton that could be developed for housing and questions the effect of such a large subdivision on existing water and sewerage services.
He points out that the area concerned is subject to flooding from the Mangatarere Stream. The Taratahi water race also crosses the area.
Mr Engel says he's not anti-development but believes the way good productive farming land is being carved up needs to be carefully considered by councils.
He likens the proliferation of lifestyle blocks to "trying to build a cowshed in the middle of town".
Mr Engel is appalled at last week's approval by the Carterton District Council to allow the subdivision of four town-sized sections in rural zoned Richmond Road. The council decided 90 minutes after the hearing to allow the subdivision to go ahead.
Mr Engel sat in on this hearing as an observer. He said he heard the warnings from objectors that such a development could set a precedent.
"I think those warnings fell on deaf ears. It was just a charade."
Mr Engel came to Wairarapa 30 years ago "in a Humber 80 with $50 in my pocket."
He had worked in the justice system in courthouses but after meeting Judith Saywell from a Carterton farming family, he became a farmer and for the past 25 years they have farmed dairy cows at Waihakeke, south east of Carterton.