Housing likely to overrun prime kiwifruit orchards

Some of the best orchards in the kiwifruit heartland of Te Puke are likely to be ripped up to house a growing population.

The population is expected to double within 45 years in the area controlled by Western Bay of Plenty District Council, and new limits for urban development are now out for public consultation.

Up to 12 kiwifruit orchards, totalling 70ha, on the eastern side of No 3 Rd between MacLoughlin Drive and Whitehead Ave in Te Puke are targeted for residential development.

Another half-dozen orchards farther south off No 2 Rd and around Dudley Vercoe Drive also face extinction.

Some orchardists are unhappy.

Rod Bayliss, whose father, Walter, was a kiwifruit pioneer, was shocked when council officials said his three orchards would probably become sportsfields.

"The land they require rips into the heart of my operation," said Mr Bayliss, who has lived in Whitehead Ave for 25 years. "Development was always going to happen wherever they draw the line but we have objected.

"I can't see the development coming out our way for another 10 to 15 years. Once it does we will be gone - I don't want to live in town with houses all around me."

Mr Bayliss' three orchards produce about 160,000 trays of kiwifruit a year from 15ha.

His neighbours John and Carol Dowling are also objecting.

"We don't want to change our lifestyle," said Mr Dowling, whose two orchards produce 100,000 trays a year from 9.5 canopy hectares.

"This is the golden circle - there's not many other people who grow better kiwifruit. There must be other options."

The urban limits for the whole of the Western Bay have been drawn up by Environment Bay of Plenty as the first step in implementing the Smartgrowth planning strategy.

After the two-month public consultation, the areas of future residential and industrial development will be included in Environment BOP's regional policy statement.

The boundary surrounding the kiwifruit orchards follows the path outlined in the Western Bay council's 20-year plan for Te Puke. In a proposed plan change, the kiwifruit land would be rezoned residential and active reserves.

But Smartgrowth project manager Ken Tremaine, is appalled by the move. "Bugger that. It's not the intention of SmartGrowth to take away rural land unless there is a very good reason for it.

"We have made a contract with the communities to accommodate the growth within existing urban footprints. If people doing the mapping have wandered into kiwifruit land, then that's a matter for very strong debate."

Mr Tremaine said Smartgrowth was forecasting only modest growth for Te Puke and the loss of kiwifruit land was a loss of income for the region.

Te Puke ward councillor Lorna Treloar said the logic of the proposed plan change was to connect Whitehead Ave with Dunlop Rd.

"We are doing an exercise on it and it's not inevitable."

SmartGrowth forecasts say Te Puke's population will 60 per cent by 2051.

- NZPA