Members of the Auckland Regional Council put to rest a row with Waiheke Island conservationists in May.
But it took years, and many tense parks committee meetings, before a proposed unpopular swap of some ARC park land for an airfield development was finally ditched.
The saga began in January 1996 when, against
the advice of council staff, members of the ARC parks committee voted to give 0.8ha of Whakanewha Regional Park to Waiheke Island Airfields in exchange for 4.7ha of wetland owned by the company bordering the park.
The committee did not consult the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, which contributed to the park's purchase, and ran into further criticism in 1998 when members at first upheld a commissioner's ruling that the swap should not go ahead but a month later changed their minds without giving reasons for ignoring the commissioner's ruling.
After the Department of Conservation ruled the process invalid, the current parks committee voted to restart the swap process.
This year, with several members having reversed voting on the issue during the six years of the saga, a new vote was taken against the land swap.
Members who voted against the swap in May were ARC chairman Philip Warren, parks committee chairman Bill Burrill, Maureen Brooker, Gwen Bull, Mike Lee, Ruth Norman and Jack Henderson. Those who supported the swap were Dianne Glenn, Lady Patricia Thorp, Carl Harding, Les Paterson and Philip Sherry.
Feature: Local body elections 2001
www.localgovt.co.nz
