Retired bishop banned from petrol station in Coromandel

Bruce and Pat Gilberd, and Joyce Birdsall have all been banned from the petrol station due to their involvement with a campaign against development plans for Tairua's marina. Photo / John McCombe

Owner trespasses church leader after stoush over marina development.

A retired bishop has been banned from his local petrol station, which has had eggs thrown at it and horse manure dumped in the forecourt.

Bruce Gilberd, former Anglican Bishop of Auckland, has been trespassed from the Gull Service Station in Tairua with his wife Pat and three others in the small Coromandel town.

The extreme step comes after a 14-year stoush over plans for developing the town's marina.

Auckland businessman Craig Watts, who is behind the development plans and is also part-owner of the petrol station, confirmed he had issued the trespass orders.

"We have had eggs thrown at the buildings, horse manure dumped on our front gate and I've had my tyres slashed when I'm out fishing. We have had enough," Watts said.

"We were also sent an abusive note telling us to get out of town."

Watts said there was nothing to suggest Gilberd and the others were responsible but said "misinformation from the group had the community up in arms".

The five, members of marina opposition group Guardians of Paku Bay, have also been banned from the marina. Gilberd told the Herald on Sunday that he was not involved in any egg-throwing or manure dumping.

"We have always stuck to the issue and not played the man. We have played the ball."

He was stumped about the reason behind the "childish" trespass orders, which meant he and the others had to travel 14km to the next nearest petrol station in Hikuai.

"There is nothing I am aware of that has deserved two trespass notices."

Gilberd, who was Bishop from 1985 to 1995 and has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, believed Watts was driven by anger about the protest group's submissions to an upcoming planning hearing.

"We are democratically involving ourselves in the process and this has obviously made him angry.

"People in the village here think it is childish behaviour and they will take their business elsewhere."

Contentious marina plans were first lodged by Watts' company 14 years ago. The Environment Court rejected the original proposal for a 150-berth marina. A scaled-down version with 95 berths is in the final stages of construction.

The latest spat comes after the protest group claimed four resource consents had been breached. Watts disputes those claims.

Watts has owned a holiday home in Tairua since the 1980s. He was one of four who bought the former BP petrol station in 2007 and opened a Gull service station on the site.