Gisborne paddock sale criticised

A farm paddock sold by the Gisborne District Council for $439 was sold six months later for $15,000.

Jan and Calum Sinton of Whangara, north of Gisborne, complained to the Auditor-General in October 2002 after the council's sale of a 1.6ha paddock west of Gisborne in April 2000.

The Sintons had an agreement with the council to graze their stock in the paddock. They first learned of the sale when they received a letter from their neighbour, who had bought the land, asking them to remove their stock.

The Audit Office report found that it was unfair of the council to proceed with the sale without consulting the Sintons and that after the sale a council officer issued a separate title for the land without authority. That had allowed the new owner to sell the block without having to subdivide it.