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Auckland Council has finally disposed of the controversial Corry Block in Wellsford.
The 34.47ha property on State Highway 1, just south of the Wharehine yard, sold for $1.74 million and was purchased by Wellsford Organic Farms.
According to a note in last month’s Rodney Local Board agenda, the land was “no longer required”.
Organic Farms co-director Rob Gibson, who is also the managing director of Wharehine, says the current plan for the land is to “tidy the place up and keep farming it for now”.
“I think the focus at the moment should be more on getting Wellsford sorted,” Rob says. “It has a big opportunity once the motorway opens mid-next year. We’ll be the first stop out of Auckland.
“We constantly keep getting passed over, being right at the top of the Auckland Council boundary. Colin Smith has been doing a great job, but the town needs some investment from both central and local governments and businesses to make the most of the opportunities and to ensure Wellsford keeps its identity as the friendly rural town.”
The Corry farm was bought by Rodney District Council (RDC) in 2004 to extend the recreational reserve and rezone land for industrial expansion in the town. However, the venture was doomed when Council continually ran up against difficulties from Transit NZ (now NZTA) in securing access off State Highway 1.
At its final meeting in 2010, RDC signed off on designations of sections of the land to accommodate a possible realignment of the highway, recreation reserve and local purpose reserve on a portion of the land.
The Wellsford Districts Sport & Recreation Collective campaigned for many years to have the land retained and used for recreational purposes, which it believed would have both recreational and economic spinoffs for Wellsford.
The recent sale comprised three sections – two totalling 20.5 ha were zoned future urban and fronted the highway, with the Wellsford Golf Club on the eastern boundary. The third block of 13.9 ha was zoned rural production with a northern boundary on Flagstaffe Road and adjoining Centennial Park to the west.
The other director of Wellsford Organic Farms is Mark Hurt, of Point Wells.
