Treescape vs sea views
A New Plymouth club’s claim its expansive sea views were protected by a 2002 agreement has been challenged by the council that allegedly made it.
Seventeen years ago the New Plymouth Club had just completed a $3.5 million development to make the most of their sweeping sea views from their Gill St premises when the New Plymouth District Council planted po¯hutukawa trees across the road.
Yesterday, club executive committee member Mike Wesley said the council had assured the club the trees would be maintained and kept small.
But the trees had since grown tall enough to block large parts of the views from the club and Wesley claimed efforts to get the council to do something about it had come to nothing.
‘‘We think we’ve been let down badly to be honest by the people who make assurances and then renege on them.’’
Wesley said they were not asking for the trees to be cut down, but they paid a lot of money in rates for their sea views – close to $80,000 a year. Some trimming had been completed, but it was hard to see what had been done.
‘‘Over the years we’ve been fobbed off really.
‘‘The Parks’ team tell me ‘we get a lot of requests for pruning along the foreshore, and we do not want to open that can of worms, by allowing a few exceptions’.’’ However the club was there first, he said. But in an emailed response to questions, NPDC infrastructure manager David Langford said the club’s suggestion there was an agreement to keep the trees small did not fit in with council’s tree policy.
‘‘We’ve spoken to the club about this and asked for a copy of the agreement as we have no records around it. We are still waiting to see this document.’’ Langford said the council had only had one request for tree trimming on the foreshore since 2017 and that was from the New Plymouth Club.
He said the council did not aim to replace sea views with trees, but rather have trees as part of the view.
‘‘We try our best to work with residents and businesses when they have concerns. However, it’s important to note we have rules about how trees are managed and these apply to everyone in the district.’’
The club is New Plymouth’s largest members-only club with 5000 on its books. It has large windows and a deck area to make the most of the views.
Those views used to take in Port Taranaki, Paritutu and the Sugar Loaves as well as the open sea directly across the road. But now the view in front of the club is obscured and most of the port area is hidden behind a po¯ hutukawa.
Po¯hutukawa are native New Zealand trees but their presence in Taranaki is largely due to them being planted here. Tobias Daniels, general manager of Salt Restaurant which also overlooks the sea, said customers had complained about the po¯hutukawa trees blocking the view in the past. ‘‘They’ve been trimmed back so it seems like at the moment it’s not such a concern.’’