A complicated past and a tricky future – the owners of a North Shore waterfront section have blocked access to a spectacular pathway until the council plays ball with their demands
Walk along the waterfront between Milford and Takapuna on Auckland's North Shore and you'll see volcanic fossils, impossibly shaped lava rocks, panoramic views of Rangitoto Island and the Hauraki Gulf...
... and a fence blocking the path, cutting it off to hundreds of walkers, runners and explorers.
For nearly two weeks now the owners of an historic heritage-listed property have blocked off the walkway – their trump card in a battle with Auckland Council over restrictive rules that could be costing them millions.
The owners are the beneficiaries of the Kitchener Rd section after the genial man who used to live in the old cottage there, Paul Firth, died in 2021.
What followed is complicated because of what's gone on in the past.
The Detail talks to a city councillor and a lawyer representing the property owner about what's happened here, and what needs to happen to resolve the situation.
We go out to the site and run into councillor John Watson who tells us about the history of the property.
"There are 70-odd properties here along this walkway that are private property that the walkway goes over," Watson says. The walkway is also part of the Te Araroa trail.
"This one has been under discussion for over a decade in terms of trying to resolve the access. Long story short, the current owners have obviously got frustrated and have put the fence up, perhaps as a bargaining chip for trying to get what they want out of it."
The owners want the council to remove the Category A heritage listing from the bach along this iconic walkway.
It's the highest level of protection the council can offer, but it's unclear how it landed there – and while the Firth family didn’t ask for it, nor did it object to it.
The listing was proposed by the former North Shore City and locked in under the current council after a publicly notified process. Auckland Council says it received no objections to the heritage status being applied to the property at the time.
Council documents supporting the heritage listing that say it has "architectural significance as a survivor of the modest houses, many baches or weekenders, that used to line the beach at Thorne Bay" and it "makes a notable contribution to the built environs of the Black Rock shoreline, standing in stark contrast to the larger, architecturally designed homes in the vicinity".
The papers also note the house was used as a set during the filming of Under the Mountain in 2009.
Another reason for protection was that Paul Firth's father, noted photographer Clifton Firth, led a life associated with the North Shore's artistic community and the "seaside home illustrates another aspect of his life".
Alexia Russell, The Detail's producer, has covered local bodies in Auckland for many years and has completed the 40-minute-each-way walk hundreds of times.
"Once these homes were all baches – obviously before the Harbour Bridge was all built. It was a seaside resort and there were gentlemen's agreements to let people cross over to their land. Their property borders are right down to the sand. It's land that they would never have been able to build on anyway – rocks, surf pounding there all the time," she says.
"The old Takapuna City Council, the old North Shore City Council, failed to turn these gentlemen's agreements into easements. There's nothing formal about the access, and there are 72 property holders whose land this walkway crosses who are just allowing us to do that – they don't have to do that."
As time went on the baches were replaced by larger and more elaborate homes, and the Firth cottage was essentially the last one standing – a reminder of simpler times.
But Russell says a storm washed out the boardwalk in front of the property in 2011, and Paul Firth started letting people through his back yard.
At the same time he made an arrangement with the council that his rates bills would be taken out of his estate, a bill that now amounts to $78,000.
The beneficiaries, who wish to remain private, want to sell the property but without the ability to clear the section they won't get much for it. They want the heritage listing removed.
The council says it's not that simple.
The Detail talks to the current owners' solicitor, Alex Witten-Hannah, to get the owners' perspective.
He says the fence has been in place since September 29, but it would come down tomorrow if the council made a commitment to remove the listing.
"The council was given that date as a deadline and they had time to deal with the issue. They didn't have to lift the heritage listing by the 29th of September – all they had to do is to say 'We'll put the process in place, get it done'.
"If they made some kind of a commitment to lifting the heritage listing in a reasonable space of time, my people would've not put the fence up in the first place."
Witten-Hannah says the little house is dilapidated and run down, and drug users have been inside there. He wouldn't be surprised if the community takes things into its own hands and it's burnt down.
This story has been updated to clarify the heritage listing process.
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