A fence has been built blocking the Takapuna Milford coastal walkway, due to a heritage dispute with Auckland council. Photo / Brett Phibbs
A fence has been built blocking the Takapuna Milford coastal walkway, due to a heritage dispute with Auckland council. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Part of an “iconic” coastal walk that swarms with tens-of-thousands of Aucklanders each year has been closed to the public because of a heritage battle over a small seaside cottage.
That’s despite a North Shore community group this week presenting Auckland councillors a petition with 7000 signatures urging them tohelp keep it open.
The Firth family say they’re fencing off part of the 2.5km Takapuna to Milford coastal walkway that passes through their private Takapuna land, near Black Rock.
Former owner Paul Firth earlier opened his land to walkers free of charge in 2011 after a public bridge washed away in front of his property.
The Firth family say they want to now grant a slice of their land to Auckland Council to be permanently used as part of the walkway, on condition council removes a 2013 heritage listing placed over the property and grants them rates relief.
Lawyer Alex Witten-Hannah - acting on the family’s behalf - said he would have expected the council to jump at the opportunity to get “iconic” land cheap for future generations.
Instead, he said there’s been no movement from the council on the issue for more than a year, calling the delays “bureaucratic nonsense” and inertia.
The delays have helped to almost freeze Firth property in time - a tiny, rustic cottage surrounded by some of Auckland’s most desirable waterfront homes, including a four-storey mansion with a $13 million CV next door.
It’s also thrown doubt over whether this section of walkway, past the Firth’s property, will be lost to the public for good.
Takapuna Residents’ Associations Chairman Steven Salt this week presented a petition to councillors asking local government to simply “get on and do something” about it.
He said the council has had 12 years to solve the issue since the public bridge washed away and has failed to do so.
The walk was possibly Auckland’s most popular, with its narrow pathways passing beaches and stunning homes with views over Rangitoto Island, Salt said.
In summer, especially, it teems with Aucklanders and tourists.
“It’s a huge community asset,” Salt said.
Those signing the petition wrote comments, such as: “terrible to lose”, “a huge loss to the community”, “too valuable and special to close”, “these coastal walkways are Auckland treasures for everyone to enjoy”, and “historic and of great value”.
“This is an iconic walkway one that must be maintained and kept for future generations,” another signatory wrote.
The Firth cottage sits at a particularly popular spot, close to the 1920s-built Merksworth Castle and Thorne and Milford Beaches.
With the Firths fencing off their land, walkers now need to detour away from the coast and onto public roads before rejoining the path about a block further down.
Takapuna Residents’ Association’s Salt said he wouldn’t comment on the terms of negotiations between the council and a private landholder.
However, he believed the council should be able to move faster with the negotiations, given it had plenty of experience negotiating with landholders for things like maintaining roads and other infrastructure.
Firth family lawyer Witten-Hannah said the relatives who had inherited the property want to arrange a solution that benefits everyone.
The family have asked the council to waive about $78,000 in unpaid rates charges that accrued under former owner Paul Firth and to remove a heritage listing placed on the property.
In exchange, they will give a waterfront slice of their land to the council to be used as part of the walkway, Witten-Hannah said.
The family also believe the heritage listing was “unfairly” placed on the Firth because it was done in 2013 without consulting the family, Witten-Hannah said.
He said the heritage listing greatly reduces the property’s potential sale price, given council has valued the cottage at just $50,000 while its prime waterfront land has a $6.8m CV.
Lawyer Alex Witten-Hannah stands in front of the humble Firth cottage that sits next to a four-storey $13 million mansion. Photo / Dean Purcell
The family say thousands of people pass through their property each day. Photo / Dean Purcell
Witten-Hannah said the heritage listing also notes that the historic value is more because of the notable people who have lived at the property, rather than the value of the cottage itself.
He said the family are being financially penalised simply because they are the last among the waterfront properties to sell up and rebuild new mansions.
In regards to the unpaid rates, Witten-Hannah said former owner Firth generously opened his land to the public and paid for the maintenance of the path through it for a decade.
However, he ran short of money and accrued the unpaid rates charges, Witten-Hannah said.
The young families inheriting the property are also not rich, but believe a fair outcome would be to grant a slice of their land to the council for public use, he said.
In an email response to Witten-Hannah seen by the Herald, council’s Parks and Community Facilities staff member Anthony Lewis said he understood it had been expected the local government would make a decision about the walkway in October last year.
“However, that timeline did not account for the local body elections and subsequent delay in forming a new council committee structure,” Lewis wrote to Witten-Hannah.
“Also unforeseen was the impact of the January and February 2023 storms on council resourcing and being able to progress this matter.”
Taryn Crewe, general manager for Parks and Community Facilities at the council, told the Herald her department was “operating in good faith”.
She said her team wanted to “find a solution that works for the property owner as well as the wider community, and is mindful of the legislative requirements it has to follow”.
Crewe said the council had no discretion to make deals regarding heritage status or rates as those functions were regulated by the process the council must follow.
However, “reports relating to this property” and the walkway “will be considered by the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board and the council before the end of this year”, Crewe said.
