Tēnā koe ,

 

I refer to your request of October 12, 2025 for Information about “Bach
Leases”. Your request was referred to council’s Property Department for
consideration and answers to the following questions:

 

o Can you please provide the Council's decision to grant further 10-year
leases and the report that identifies the change to the earlier policy
direction.

o We cannot locate any previous policy as disclosed in the previous
LGOIMA response. Therefore, Council does not hold the information
you are seeking.

 

o Can you please provide the statutory authority giving Council the
power to enter into a lease over road reserves.

o In a recent case (2024) the High Court has reinforced that Councils
have inherent common law and statutory powers to make decisions
over roads in their jurisdiction.  This was affirmed on the basis
that the Council is the owner of roads under section 316 of the
Local Government Act 1974.  Essentially, the Council was the
‘landowner’ of the paper road and therefore could grant a licensee
permission to access and use the land in the same manner as any
other landowner.

 

 

The material represents our best efforts to locate relevant material.
However, the search process is by no means an exact science and given the
broad scope of your request it is possible that there may be other items
of relevance that have unintentionally been missed in the search.

 

I hope this information is some assistance in responding to your request.
If you believe we have not responded appropriately to your request, you
have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of the Act, to
apply to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation and review of the
decision.

 

 

 

Kind regards,

 

 

John Burt  

Manager – Property | Property Department

Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi, 9 Rust Avenue | Private Bag 9023,
Te Mai, Whangārei 0143

P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 945 4358 | M 027 532 0002 | [1]www.wdc.govt.nz

[2]Whangarei District Council logo

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear Whangarei District Council,

 

Thank you for forwarding a copy of your property policy.  Like you say
this does not specifically address Whananaki and Woolleys Bay leases on
unformed road reserves and does not appear to address this issue in any
substantive way.

It is my understanding in the early 1990s the WDC policy was to remove the
baches from the unformed roads.  Families who had had those properties
were given a 'lease' of 20 years (I had thought it was 30), this was to be
the final lease and all parties understood this.   This gave the families
time to enjoy and prepare.  This removal policy was in line with central
government policies to remove baches from public land, many having now
been removed - ie., DoC land at Whangaruru.

Given that the property policy does not deal with this issue specifically
can you please provide the Council's decision to grant further 10 year
leases and the report that identifies the change to the earlier policy
direction.

Can you please provide the statutory authority giving Council the power to
enter into a lease over road reserves.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Christine Woods

References

Visible links
1. Link to the Whangarei District Council's website.
https://www.wdc.govt.nz/