New Chums Beach.

New Chums has been drawing a lot of local attention in recent weeks. It is a bit of a journey to get there from Tuateawa unless you go by sea even though Motutapu at it's northern end is part of the Tuateawa seascape. It is an incredible beach and well worth visiting with guests. Just over an hour on the road, followed by a twenty minute walk and you are there.

It's beauty is known worldwide and has been rated as one of the top twenty beaches in the world. The A. A. also has it as one of 101 must visit places. It combines the whitest sand, great surf and a magnificent bush and cave pierced cliff backdrop. The proposal to subdivide the land behind the beach could hardly pass without notice.

It is worth mentioning that the public had no legal access to this beach. Property rights extend to the high tide mark. This also ruled out any legal jurisdiction over the beach on the part of T.C.D.C. and presumably D.O.C. Under the District Plan the land could have been legally subdivided into up to 260 lots. The developers claim a benign, not for profit, interest in this process and have entered into extensive consultation with interested parties in forming their consent application.

The interested parties are many and varied. These include local ratepayers, local Iwi, T.C.D.C., D.O.C. Env. Waikato. amongst others. According to an article in the Weekend edition of the Waikato Times a good resolution of different viewpoints has been obtained. Twenty lots are proposed, none on the beach, the public have guaranteed access and T.C.D.C. have control of the coastal esplanade. In September they gazetted a new regulation regarding dogs on beaches during bird breeding season. This was a D.O.C. initiative and New Chums is now able to be included on this list. This is good news for the N.Z. Dotterel which have attempted to breed on New Chums in non regulated circumstances.

The consent application is yet to be heard before an independent commissioner. What is being advanced as a win win situation by T.C.D.C. may not eventuate.

What must be of general concern to all is the lax regulations that could permit an high density development in such a remarkable location. Concern has been expressed in Tuateawa about legal subdivision as small as 600sq. m./lot. Tuateawa has many adjacent locations with similar values to New Chums Beach. We should not count on the very unusual cooperative circumstances that arose in New Chums being repeated in our part of the world. There is a need for some clear cut sensible legislation to protect outstanding coastal environments such as Tuateawa.