A group of Northland locals are raising funds to buy a 700-hectare East Coast property to ensure it won’t be carved up for luxury holiday homes.
The Elliot family own the farm and have allowed public access to the beach for the past nine decades but have recently decided to sell.
Geoff Ricketts is the chair of the Ipipiri Nature Conservancy Trust - which is hoping to buy the land.
He told Jesse Mulligan the Northern Regional Council describes the property as ‘an outstanding national landscape’.
Native bush makes up 500 hectares of the property, incuding mānuka, kānuka, kauri and tōtara, while 200 hectares of farm land fronts the surf beach, Elliot Bay.
“It’s a big property with a rich history and it’s up for tender and was going to be broken up into four blocks.”
Driving through the property on his way up to Rāwhiti, Ricketts told his wife it’d be a tragedy if it was broken up. She told him to do something about it, so he is.
“If Elliot farm can be secured for conservation in the future then from Cape Brett down to Taupiri heading towards Whangarei down south, you’ll have 5km of pristine coastal property that’s never been developed.”
Ricketts hopes in the future there will be a 3-day, 4-night walk through the area and is in talks with Department of Conservation (DOC) and local iwi to make it a reality.
The land was first offered to DOC but they turned it down, says Ricketts.
“DOC have been up there, we’re working together and they will develop the tracks, they’re happy for their land to be part of that, so everyone’s got their role,” he says.
“We will keep the Elliot family philosophy of public access to the beach and to the walks and that will come will two central conditions; one if no dogs because it is a bird sanctuary and no vehicles on the beach.”
The price Rickett has been able to negotiate is lower than what was first requested by the Elliot family.
He says there was a kāinga (village) on the whenua in the 1800s but the people drifted to Rāwhiti because it was a prominent stop-off place for American Whalers seeking provisions.
“It’s rich in archaeological interests and it’s just a great spot.”
Ricketts has set up a trust and is working on a website to promote the fundraising effort – he needs to raise $9.3 million in total. He’s already raised $6 million of that by talking to locals and local businesses who are supportive of the endeavour.
“It opens up so many opportunities; for a great walk, for marine life, bird sanctuary. If you took from Cape Brett to Taupiri, [if] that 5 km was ever made a marine sanctuary or reserve or alternatively the local iwi put a rāhui on it, that would be the biggest marine reserve…in the North Island.
For further information on the trust and its plans, the email is ipipirinct@gmail.com
