Resistance
to Waiheke Golf Club extending its present nine hole course into neighbouring
reserve land moved a step forward with a local lobby group ordered to pay
$12,500 as security for court costs should its current legal challenge fail.
The High Court was told it has taken
twenty five years of regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles for Waiheke Golf to
get Council approval for a course extension on to reserve land. Hauraki Gulf Enhancement Society Incorporated
is challenging Council approval. It says
the approval breaches the Reserves Act and that inadequate public notice was
given. Waiheke Golf is suspicious of the
Society’s bona fides, alleging it is a front for members of the local Walden
family who oppose the expansion. The
Society has no assets beyond several hundred dollars in the bank and has for
years failed to levy any annual subscriptions from its supposed fifty-strong
membership. Mr Paul Walden, chair of the
Waiheke Island Local Board, said individual members preferred to remain
anonymous. Mr Walden personally has
bankrolled the legal challenge to date.
Justice Toogood ordered the Society pay
$12,500 into court as part payment for any future costs award in favour of the
Golf Club. He warned delays in payment
could result in the litigation being struck out.
Hauraki
Gulf Enhancement Society v. Auckland City – High Court (16.10.15)
15.115