Resident remains defiant against plan change at Matata fanhead
11 Feb, 2021 07:27 PM
4 minutes to read
Several homes have already been removed from the Awatarariki fanhead. Rick and Rachel Whalley s (front) will be the last to go. Photo / Troy Baker
Several homes have already been removed from the Awatarariki fanhead. Rick and Rachel Whalley s (front) will be the last to go. Photo / Troy Baker
Charlotte is a Local Democracy Reporter based in Whakatane.
One resident remains defiant as Eastern Bay councils prepare to officially end rights to live in the area of Matata devastated by a debris flow in 2005.
The first of two plan changes to end all human habitation in the coastal neighbourhood of Awatarariki was formally approved by Whakatane District Council yesterday.
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One resident remains defiant as Eastern Bay councils prepare to officially end rights to live in the area of Matatā devastated by a debris flow in 2005.
Several homes have already been removed from the Awatarariki fanhead. Rick and Rachel Whalley’s (front) will be the last to go.
Photo: Whakatane Beacon / Troy Baker
The first of two plan changes to end all human habitation in the coastal neighbourhood of Awatarariki was formally approved by Whakatāne District Council today.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is expected to formalise a second plan change next week that will extinguish all existing use rights in the area - effectively making the last resident a squatter in his own home.
Troy Baker/WhakatÄne Becon
Several homes have already been removed from the Awatarariki fanhead. Rick and Rachel Whalley’s (front) will be the last to go. The Whakatāne council has been seeking to remove all residents from the Awatarariki fanhead after the debris flow destroyed several houses in the community. Through a managed retreat process progressed in partnership with the regional council and the Government, the council has bought the other 33 properties. Approximately half of these properties contained houses. The strongest critics of the managed retreat process, Rick and Rachel Whalley, who gave up their Clem Elliott Drive home late last year after years of bitter wrangling with the Whakatāne council, sent a strongly worded email to district and regional elected members, members of Parliament and media ahead of Thursday’s meeting to formalise the first plan change.