History of the Society

Short History of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society

The Society was founded in 1973 when proposals were made by the then local body (The Waitemata District Council) to put a rubbish tip in the Waitakere River Valley at Te Henga. This would have resulted in terrible pollution of the river, the wetland and the Te Henga lagoon, and many local residents were appalled. Awareness of environmental pollution was increasing among people at that time, and a determined band of artists, scientists, lawyers and citizens worked together to object. They were successful in stopping the tip after a concentrated campaign, including thousands of objections, and high level submissions put together by experts in the fields of geology, engineering and law.

After this success the Society was formed to maintain the environmental and aesthetic values of the Waitakere Ranges. During the following decades, the Society kept a close watch on proposals in the Ranges, objecting where necessary, and suggesting more environmentally friendly solutions to problems. The Society was instrumental in bringing together funding sources to enable additions to be made to the publicly owned land of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. Land around Lake Wainamu, Pae o Te Rangi, Waitoru, and land around Parau were added to the Park as a result.

During the 2000s the Society worked strongly for the creation of the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area, which includes the foothills to the Ranges. The Act of Parliament creating the Heritage area was passed in 2008, and puts in place an extra layer of protection against environmental damage in the Ranges. The Society has always numbered among its members, prominent scientists, artists and lawyers and can muster formidable support or objection to specific proposals. It regards itself as the foremost guardian of the wild Waitakere Ranges, with a mission to educate and protect its biodiversity, environmental and aesthetic values.
The history of the Society’s first 40 years is recorded in ‘Saving the Ranges’ a Society publication in 2013.

The Early Days of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society

by Dick Bellamy and Colleen Pilcher.  Excerpt from “Waitakere Ranges” by Bruce & Trixie Harvey. 

The Waitakere Ranges have always held a special part in the consciousness of Auckland residents. The rugged wildness of the western coastline exposed to the prevailing southwesterly winds contrast strongly with the calm bays and gentle hills of the east coast. The Ranges, which form a backdrop to Auckland, are the closest forest remnant and offer recreational opportunities, a place of beauty and refuge from urban pressures, and a major source of Auckland’s water. The iconic landforms of the coastal zone have been captured and interpreted by landscape artists and photographers from the early days of Auckland.

Trying to save the tree roots

This empathy did not, however, protect the magnificent kauri forests from the wave of destruction driven by Auckland’s need for building timber and the lucrative export trade to Australia and North America. But, by the 1920s, Aucklanders recognised the intrinsic value of having such a large wilderness area close to the rapidly growing city, and planned to protect a substantial area. The initial plans included the lower Waitakere River wetland, a significant bird habitat, but this was unfortunately left out of Centennial Memorial Park. Although the dam in the headwaters diverts most of its water to Auckland, it is the largest intact freshwater wetland in the Auckland region

The crisis unfolds

When the news broke in the summer of 1973, it spread like wildfire through the local community. Waitemata County Council planned to construct a major ‘sanitary landfill’ to last 30 years in a side branch of the Waitakere River valley near the Bethells/Te Henga Road junction. This small catchment with native bush and waterfalls drains via the wetland to the coastal lagoon at Te Henga where children swim safely in summer. But the council engineers were driven by the looming rubbish crisis created by the imminent closure of the existing dump at a mangrove estuary in Te Atatu, which left only the Whitford landfill site available for Auckland’s waste. They were attracted by the remoteness of the area, the easy access to on-site fill from Duck’s Quarry, and the proximity of the railway line at Waitakere township. To justify the proposed site, they argued it was not in the Waitakeres, and perhaps to keep the locals happy, football fields would be created after the tip closed.

Political context

It is useful to view the proposal in the context of contemporary Auckland governance. Waitemata County, which was one of more than 20 territorial local authorities in Auckland, spread from Titirangi to the North Shore, but was administered from Greys Avenue in central Auckland. In the 1970s councils (reflecting their origins as local Road Boards) were often managed by engineers with limited experience of the Town and Country Planning Act (1956), and the Water and Soil Conservation Act (1967). Although these Acts did not require environmental impact assessments, the discharge of toxic waste from the proposed tip did require the approval of the Auckland Regional Water Board. The Water Board and Catchment Authority’s powers were vested in the Auckland Regional Authority (now Auckland Regional Council), and the board was augmented by other members, in particular the District Commissioner of Works and the local Commissioner of Crown Lands. Thus, while the Waitemata County controlled the planning process, it did not control the water right process; nor did it have representation on the water board.

‘The Scenic Drive’ publicity near the site of the proposed tip in the Waitakere valley, 1973.

Social Context

The 1960s and early 1970s saw a marked rise in the numbers of young New Zealanders travelling overseas, particularly to London and North America. Most were educated and held a strong desire to return to New Zealand, often motivated by their first-hand experience of some of the less attractive aspects of life in large, densely populated cities, particularly the impacts of urban waste and pollution which were all too obvious to small town New Zealanders.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, ten-acre block subdivisions spread into the Waitakeres. Farming had always been marginal on the impoverished western soils and was giving way to lifestyle blocks. Although the change in land use created some problems, it had the fortuitous effect of introducing a completely new set of residents having a range of professional and artistic talents. This extended and built upon the skills of the existing residents and was supplemented by the professional contacts of the many sympathisers from the city.

The initial meeting at the Waitakere Primary School in the summer of 1973 drew farmers, longtime residents, newcomers and bach owners. They were united in a sense of outrage at the proposal and a desire to preserve the area. To add insult to injury, the council’s public notice was in the Auckland Star, a paper which was not delivered locally, and the area had no rubbish collection. More meetings followed at the Waitakere Hall which brought people from further afield. The Waitakere Ranges Protection Society was under way with Jeff Scholes (potter and musician) as president, and was formally incorporated in July 1973.

Waitemata County was completely unprepared for the pace of a political campaign waged by a group of youthful activists from this rural backwater. A form of public relations guerrilla warfare ensued in which the society effectively used contacts assiduously cultivated with the print media, radio and television. Media coverage was almost invariably sympathetic. Special media events, like the symbolic tug-o-war with the bulldozer, were tailor made for television. The ‘Scenic Rubbish Drive’, street theatre events and Te Henga Arts Festival helped to highlight the inappropriateness of the Waitakeres as a location for a dump. The committee was determined not to take a ‘not-in-my-backyard’ approach, and wanted to prevent Auckland from being locked into long-term ‘dump and forget’ attitudes and obsolete technology. This meant a commitment to research on urban landfill management and problems, waste reduction, and/or innovative alternative methods.

Beach theatre to gain supporters and publicity against the proposed tip 1973.

The society worked on several approaches — first a petition of 700 signatures which was presented to Parliament by WRPS secretary Juliet Batten (artist and English scholar), who was by then an expert on rubbish disposal.

Second, a Private Members Bill was prepared, which was doomed immediately because it lacked the support of the local council. This historic document titled The Auckland Regional Authority Amendment Bill with handwritten note can be seen here.

Finally, after a year of late night meetings and weekends of door-knocking, signature collecting, fundraising and research, the society and other objectors presented their submissions at the council hearing. Not surprisingly, this round was lost because the council in effect sat in judgement on themselves. The outcome was appealed by the society to the Town and Country Planning Appeal Board (now the Environment Court), but in the meantime the water right hearing was scheduled. WRPS intensified their research and again prepared submissions. The council’s application was declined by the water board, who accepted the society’s technical evidence which showed the leachate discharged by the tip could not be contained or treated adequately to remove the nutrients, heavy metals and other components. The unstable geology and the heavy rainfall also compounded the situation, virtually guaranteeing the vulnerable wetland would be polluted. To the surprise of the society, the council did not appeal this decision. The battle was won and the council scheme collapsed. Internal sources in the ARA suggested the input of the District Commissioner of Works, Mr Aitken, a member of the tribunal established to hear the application, was pivotal in the tribunal’s decision to reject the application. Overall, it was a stunning victory for the society and the case attracted much favourable media attention.