Holiday spot feels strain of becoming too popular

By AINSLEY THOMSON

A $100 million property boom on the Coromandel Peninsula is straining the area's roads and services and pushing up land prices.

The peninsula, handy to Auckland and Waikato, has been a popular holiday destination for years, but demand for land has skyrocketed over the past three years.

The number of building consents issued for new homes has risen 70 per cent since 2000.

Last year it rose 44 per cent, against a national average of 13 per cent.


The Thames-Coromandel District Council says the 1381 consents it issued were worth more than $100 million.

And the demand shows no sign of slowing.

Leigh Hopper, managing director of Hopper Developments - the company behind the Pauanui and Whitianga Waterways projects - says it is now difficult to buy sections in some parts of the Coromandel Peninsula, such as Pauanui, Tairua, Hot Water Beach and Hahei.

At Hopper Developments' Whitianga project, sections priced from $200,000 are selling quickly.

Thames-Coromandel District Council figures show that the Mercury Bay ward, which includes Whitianga, Matarangi, Cooks Beach and Hahei, has been the fastest growing with 651 new dwellings.

The boom is bringing money into the area, but the sprawl of developments and housing is placing pressure on infrastructure and the environment.


A moratorium has been imposed on building in Pauanui and Tairua because the sewerage system cannot cope, especially during the summer peaks, when the population rises from around 3000 to 20,000.

The district council has resolved to upgrade the system, but spokesman Peter Hazael says no date has been set for an end to the moratorium.

The council plans to spend $170 million on new infrastructure and the upgrading and replacement of existing facilities over the next 10 years.

Of this, $100 million will be spent during the next three years.

The holiday-period influx, when the Coromandel's population increases six-fold - poses particular problems for the council.

In Whangamata alone, the population at Christmas and New Year swells from the usual 4000 to close to 50,000.

Water becomes scarce, and the sewerage system struggles to cope.

At Hot Water Beach last summer, the public toilet's drainage system, which had just been upgraded, was unable to cope with the number of visitors and the pump broke, causing raw sewage and toilet paper to flow into the carpark and a stench to drift over the area.

Roading on the peninsula is also struggling to cope with the increased traffic from holidaymakers, residents and logging trucks.

State Highway 25, which curls around the area, is dotted with one-lane bridges, the most infamous being the Kopu Bridge just before Thames.

After much petitioning from Coromandel residents, visitors and officials, replacing the Kopu Bridge was bumped up the priority list in March.

Work is now expected to start in two years - four years earlier than originally planned.

But residents say the whole of State Highway 25 needs an upgrade.

The desire for land on the Coromandel has also threatened the simple camping holiday.

Since 1999, eight Coromandel camping grounds have closed and been turned into multi-million-dollar residential developments.

Development is also placing pressure on the environment.

Environmental Defence Society policy analyst Raewyn Peart says both the Environment Waikato regional council and the Thames-Coromandel council have failed to identify outstanding landscapes on the peninsula, a first step towards protecting them.

Ms Peart says new development should be limited to areas that have already been developed, and areas of cultural and environmental value should be protected by restrictive zoning.