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A group of Mangawhai residents has been blocked from their town by police checkpoints despite living in the Kaipara District.
Residents of the western side of Mangawhai Road (Twin Coast Discovery Highway), the northern side of Coal Hill Road, Avocado Lane, Paul Road and Carter Road are stuck on the wrong side of the regional divide.
They are unable to pass through the checkpoint at the intersection of Coal Hill Road and Tomarata Road.
Brian Browne, who lives on Coal Hill Road, took his Kaipara district rates bill to the checkpoint but was still turned around.
“They’ve got this so wrong. Rodney is the supercity. This is Kaipara,” he says.
His daughter, who drives a St John company vehicle, was turned around at the Coal Hill Road checkpoint but was allowed through the Black Swamp Road checkpoint.
Residents the Mahurangi Matters spoke to said the army-manned checkpoints were more lenient than police checkpoints.
Maureen Blomfield, who lives on Avocado Lane, says she fears for her safety having been cut off from her community.
Maureen’s local Four Square is just five minutes up the road in Mangawhai, but she has been told to travel half-an-hour to Wellsford to buy her groceries.
“It seems ridiculous to be asked to travel deeper into the lockdown into Wellsford. The point is we are not supposed to travel around.
“We can’t go to the shop to buy a bottle of milk, let alone go down to our local beach for a walk.”
Maureen, who is aged 79, has a sister in Mangawhai and a daughter in Kerikeri and is unable to check on them.
“I can’t even get to my doctor which is five minutes away. I would have to go to the testing station in Wellsford.”
Northland MP Matt King has taken up the residents’ cause and is seeking advice from the Waitemata Police District Commander.
“During the last lockdown, we had a hotline to directly reach the government for these kinds of issues, but this time we haven’t been provided with that,” Mr King says.
He is advising residents who urgently need to travel north to bring proof of address to checkpoints.
