Media Release - 10 December 2024
Charitable society vs Crown legal case has implications for property rights in NZ
A community-based charitable society is taking the Crown to court to protect a caveat on land the Crown is trying to develop despite agreeing to its protection. This issue has major implications for property rights in New Zealand.
Sanctuary Community Organic Garden Mahi Whenua Incorporated (Sanctuary Gardens) vs The Crown (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development) will be heard in Auckland High Court on 12 December 2024.
Sanctuary Gardens operates a successful organic community garden, food forest and educational resource at the site, which is run by volunteers in partnership arrangements. The internationally-recognised gardens are an important community asset and taonga, being open to the public 24/7 and include an access way to the nearby Oakley Creek walkway.
The caveat relates to the Crown purchasing land from Unitec in Mt Albert and then allocating housing development rights for that land. In March 2018 both the Crown and Unitec publicly promised and legally agreed to preserve the 0.7 ha Sanctuary Gardens as an open green space. This was documented as a condition in their Sale & Purchase Agreement.
By September 2023 it was discovered that the Crown had ignored the Sanctuary Gardens condition when it allocated development rights to the land. Sanctuary Gardens was not informed earlier of any change to the condition protecting it.
The developer plans to build over the Sanctuary Gardens site. It is unclear whether they had been told about the Sanctuary Gardens provision when they agreed to the parcel of land allocated to them. To date the Crown has stonewalled attempts to find out who authorised the removal of the Sanctuary Gardens condition from the Sale & Purchase Agreement, and when.
Sanctuary Gardens subsequently placed a caveat on the land to prevent development taking place. The Crown is trying to remove the caveat, and the upcoming Court hearing is to argue for it to remain in place.
Sanctuary Gardens treasurer Trevor Crosby is calling on the Crown to meet its promise and preserve the gardens as provided for in the Sale & Purchase Agreement.
“This issue goes far beyond the gardens themselves; we believe it has major ramifications for property rights in New Zealand, The Crown is apparently creating a precedent by ignoring provisions of a Sale & Purchase Agreement.”
About the development
It is suggested that 4000+ medium-to-high-density units will be built in the entire development but infrastructure being put in supports 6000.
The development represents an unprecedented scale of extremely high-density development in New Zealand and will create Auckland’s most densely populated area – comparable to the likes of Paris, Mumbai and Seoul.
There is very little publicly accessible open space for such a big development - only 5.1 ha (about 13%). This is well below best practice guidelines of 20 - 25%. (This figure excludes the land that should have been preserved for Sanctuary Gardens.)
In 2020 the Carrington Residential Development project was approved for fast-tracking under the Covid19 Consenting Act, for which consent applications had to be submitted by January 2024. The project has now been put forward for the Government’s replacement fast track legislation.
Although Sanctuary Gardens holds concerns about some aspects of the development, it is not against the development in itself. It does, however, take issue with the Sanctuary Gardens legal agreement not being kept.
ENDS
For further information:
Trevor Crosby
Sanctuary Gardens
Ph: 027 6989 962
www.sanctuaryunitec.garden/
Facebook: @SanctuaryCommunityOrganicGarden Instagram: @SanctuaryMahiWhenua