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A Matakana couple’s bid to sell their property in Ward Road has foundered on an Auckland Council planning error that Council says could cost the landowner upwards of $10,000 to correct.
It was only when Brian Leach decided to sell the 18-hectare property he had inherited from his father that he discovered it had a heritage overlay on it.
Thanks to the efforts of his grand-daughter, they uncovered a document on the Council website headed Unitary Plan Operative that clearly referred to 2 Ward Road Matakana and 425 sandstone setts or cobblestones.
However, on the Heritage NZ register, where the sandstone setts are listed as a Historic Place Category 2, the address is given as Matakana Valley Road with a legal description as a legal road, and no mention of 2 Ward Road.
“So why was this overlay ever attached to our title when these sandstone setts were never on our property?” Brian asks.
To add insult to injury, he says council contractors completely destroyed the sandstone setts more than 25 years ago.
According to his research, Brian says the early settlers built a single lane horse and cart track from Matakana to Smith Road, along what is now Matakana Valley Road, more than 100 years ago. A considerable part of this track was built with sandstone setts laid very close together to form a cobblestone all-weather roadway.
Over the years the track was widened with gravel to make a two-way motor vehicle road, but the cobblestones remained as a significant proportion of the whole roadway.
“I got a driver’s licence in 1957 and drove cars over those cobblestones for more than 30 years and can vividly recall how rough they were to drive on. If you got up any speed, the car would bounce all over the place.
“Obviously a grader could not smooth them out and if gravel was put on them, it just bounced off again after a few days.
“At some point in time, the former Rodney District Council must have declared these cobblestones to be items of historical significance.”
Brian says this rough cobblestone road remained almost unchanged up until 1993, when Rodney Council started to tar-seal the road and, over the next few years, the entire length of Matakana Valley Road was widened and tar-sealed.
“The cobblestones were either ripped up or completely buried under the new tar-sealed road,” he says.
“You can imagine my surprise, then when land agents and prospective buyers began asking me why our title deed is encumbered with an overlay concerning historic sandstone setts.
“Last week (early February) I filled out an Auckland Council official complaint form on their website asking them to please explain and please remove this overlay. They have acknowledged the email, but that’s all.”
When Mahurangi Matters asked Council how a person went about removing an overlay from their property, spokesperson Dee Sims said a private plan change would be required. For a simple project, the cost would be $10,000 while more complex projects can cost up to $30,000.
