Land-swap farmers sitting pretty says scientist

Environmental groups are furious over the Richmond Station deal

Previously secret details of the money changing hands under the Government's giant land-swap scheme of South Island high country show individual farmers getting a good deal, a scientist says.

Under "tenure review", the Crown buys back grazing land it wants for conservation or ecological purposes and which farmers use for grazing, and farmers get the chance to freehold some of the land they used to only lease.

Lincoln University's Dr Ann Brower's figures show the Crown is paying up to 188 times more for land than leaseholders even though the land is already in Crown ownership.

The largest payment to a farmer was at Dingleburn Station on Lake Hawea. The leaseholder was paid $5.5 million and the vast majority of the land (18,000ha) was turned over to the Department of Conservation, while the farmer was given private title to 7000ha on the shores of Lake Hawea.

At Glendene Station, between Lakes Hawea and Wanaka with views of both, DoC got 2136ha, while 6021ha was freeholded, meaning three-quarters of the land was privatised but the leaseholder still got paid $377,000 to give up grazing rights.

At Glendhu Station, on the shores of Lake Wanaka, the Crown paid $2084 per ha while the farmer paid $197 per ha. The Crown got back 280ha with 2936ha going into private freehold title and the leaseholder was paid $5000.

At Longslip Station, near the Lindis Pass, 9500ha was freeholded and 5500ha went to DoC, meaning the farmer got two-thirds of the land up for review. He paid the Crown $300,000 and the Crown paid him $1.7 million.

The scheme has been the target of growing criticism from conservation groups and scientists who claim the public is being ripped off while farmers walk away with land potentially worth millions of dollars - and cash in their pockets.

Dr Brower said deals struck by the Crown appeared to be getting worse over time. It seemed contractors negotiating on the behalf of the Crown were happy to agree on a price just to get a deal with the lessee.

"As a contractor, you sign up to do a job and you get paid if you do the job so if you drive a hard bargain, it will just take longer to do the deal."

Land Information New Zealand, which runs tenure review, employs contractors during the process to negotiate on its behalf. They include Opus, an asset management company, and DTZ, which describes itself as a "global real estate adviser".

Environment Canterbury, the Canterbury-Aoraki Conservation Board and the lobby group Forest and Bird are furious over the deal made for Richmond Station on the shores of Lake Tekapo. The deal allows 64 per cent of its 9567ha - including 9km along the shores of the lake - to be freeholded when the stated aim of tenure review was a 50:50 split.

Geoffrey Thomson, who chairs the High Country Accord, a group advocating for pastoral leaseholders, was surprised the figures had been released. "My understanding was that this was a private contractual [deal]."

He said Dr Brower had highlighted individual deals that on the face of it could look especially good for the farmer but that might not be the case.

Up to last month, 162,000ha of pastoral lease land has gone to farmers and 117,500ha with significant conservation or ecological value has gone into the conservation estate.

Mathew Clark of Land Information said the perpetual nature of leases and the rights held by each party meant the value of the lessees' rights tended to be higher than the Crown's.

Doing a deal

* Longslip Station: Farmer paid $33 per ha, Crown paid $304 per ha

* Glendene Station: Farmer paid $82 per ha, Crown paid $408

* Glendhu Station: Farmer paid $197 per ha, Crown paid $2084