Stony Batter: it's a long, winding road

After 18 years of wrangling, the chains are coming off the gates to Waiheke's historic site. KATHERINE HOBY reports.

A bitter dispute over access to historic Stony Batter on Waiheke Island seems to have at last been resolved.

Wealthy Waiheke landowner John Spencer has been battling the Auckland City Council and locals for 18 years to prevent the public using the 7.3km access road to the historic Second World War gun emplacement and tunnels.

He has refused to allow public access to a council road running through his island properties.

But although Mr Spencer has an appeal lodged with the Privy Council, the Auckland council has decided to at last re-open the road to locals and tourists, and has spent about $1 million upgrading it.

The Loop Rd will re-open with a community celebration on Saturday week.

It was 1982 when John Spencer decided to allow walking access only over the road easement through his property to the fortification area. The decision infuriated locals, as it meant elderly people and young children would be forced to take a long trek to Stony Batter.

The residents' main gripe was that they could drive to certain points on the road but Mr Spencer refused to let them drive any further, forcing them to turn back or walk several kilometres.

Islanders complained that the road was council-owned, and that preventing the use of the full Loop Rd had a negative effect on tourism.

Access to such scenic spots as Man O' War Bay was restricted to pedestrians as a locked gate prevented motorists getting foreshore access.

The dispute became testy several times when Mr Spencer locked gates, trapping people inside the disputed section of road. The council has at various times removed gates and padlocks. Gates have also been smashed by angry residents.

One of the most high-profile incidents involved Mr Spencer ordering huge mounds of earth to be bulldozed across the road in 1992, making vehicle access impossible. This enraged locals and after protests several were arrested, although prosecutions against them failed.

Gordon Hodson is a long-time Waiheke resident and was on the now defunct Waiheke County Council when it was embroiled in legal battles over Loop Rd.

He says the people "are reclaiming Stony Batter, and the road leading to it."

He is confident Mr Spencer's appeal will fail.

"For me, it is the end of a very long legal wrangle, and it has been a long time coming. It has hurt Waiheke in a way and there is an enormous sense of satisfaction in this for me and for many, many locals."

The organiser of the road opening day, Kylie Wesley, says Stony Batter is a scenic and historic site that has been inaccessible to many while the disagreement has dragged on.

"It is part of our heritage, part of our future," she says. "Finally people will be able to see what it is they have been missing out on."

Those wanting to walk to Stony Batter have had to walk more than 5km from a locked gate. From July 28, the journey will be 1200m from the new carpark at the end of the Loop Rd.

"Those elderly people who grew up here will be able to revisit it, and those who have never had a chance to see it can discover it," says Ms Wesley.

She says more than 9000 people took the walk to Stony Batter in the year to April.

"Imagine the potential now the wall is down, so to speak," she says.

"It really feels like a huge barrier is coming down and this part of the island will come alive again."

Ms Wesley says descendants of the original landowners, and children aged 9 and under will open the gate to Loop Rd next Saturday.

"It will be a symbolic act. It is nine years since the dirt mound was dumped, blocking the road, so anyone under 9 has not had the chance to walk the road.

"Now they'll have the chance to open up the opportunity to see invaluable historic treasures and also to open a road which has itself become a piece of history."