A rough history of bach legalities
by Janet Abbott, art historian and bach historian
Local and central government authorities have attempted to regulate and/or remove the informally-built baches at Taylor’s Mistake since 1911. They succeeded in removing all of the cave baches between Boulder Bay and Taylors Mistake in the clearances of 1979. Now 45 out of the 72 baches remain and are currently facing a new round of Council public consultation and decisions.
https://ccc.govt.nz/the-council/consultations-and-submissions/haveyoursay/show/182
An article in the Press on the third of January 1911 entitled ‘The Cave Dwellers, Charms of Taylor’s Mistake, Leading the Simple Life’ sets the scene for these baches. It describes the pioneer cave dwellers Messrs Kennedy and Bickerton who had settled in caves twenty years ago [1891], followed by Mr Archbold fourteen years ago [1897] and states that there were now more than ‘thirty dwellings, no less than a dozen new ones having been started last year’.
Baches at Taylor’s Mistake, courtesy NZStuff
The article goes on to summarise the land ownership issues at the time which must have been seen as favourable enough for at least twelve families to invest in building huts.
‘All the land round the cliffs of Taylors Mistake belongs to the Government, who let it to the late Mr R. M. Morton some years ago, and his trustees subsequently sub-let it. But by ancient law all the land for one chain above high water mark is the King’s highway (now the Queen’s chain-22 yards above high water), free of access to all, and so as long as a person is not blocking or hindering such highway, or creating a nuisance, he has a perfect right to remain on it. Some years ago some of the cave-dwellers approached the Lyttelton Harbour board with a view to paying a pepper-corn rental for their abodes, but received the reply that the Board had no jurisdiction whatever over the caves, nor had the Sumner Borough Council, the controlling body was the Marine Department.’ However, because of the growing popularity of Taylors beach in 1911 there was ‘a movement originating in the Sumner Borough Council to secure that body’s control over the cave-dwellings.’ The Mayor Mr E. Denman had an interview with the Prime Minister and asked him to place the dwellings under the control of the Council. ‘As a result, the Mayor subsequently received a letter from the Under-Secretary of Lands stating that the Government proposed to make the strip of land on which the cave-dwellings are situated a Road Reserve, and then place it under the jurisdiction of the Sumner Borough Council.’ Mr Denman said when interviewed for the article ‘that once the jurisdiction of reserve was vested in the Council it was for the Council to consider what regulations were necessary. At the present time the cave-dwellers were governed by no regulations at all and they were also paying no rent.’
The Road Reserve was duly put in place and (part of) a 99-year lease was applied, ending in c.1978. Bach owners were told they would have to remove their baches, and all the remote baches were removed at this time. Those in Boulder Bay and Taylors Mistake that were able to connect to electricity were allowed to stay for another 10 years to c.1988 if they installed electric toilets, and 45 stayed on.
The dispute went on with the bach owners arguing for existing user rights and so on, and finally in 2010 after a lengthy and expensive legal battle there was a final ruling to incorporate the baches into the city plan and find some way around granting a license to a bach on a Road Reserve (this would require rewriting the definition of a Road Reserve or changing the status of the land the baches were on).
Then came the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes, with rock fall killing about 4 people in hillside houses (but not baches) and worksites. Many hillside houses and many of the baches were red stickered and a section 124 was enforced, meaning there was no legal access to the baches for 5 years. This has now expired, but the factors of rock-fall and cliff collapse are now included in the current consultation process, despite bach owners arguing that the risk of being killed by a rogue rock is far lower than being killed while riding a motor cycle which is legal and accommodated by New Zealand legislation, and that factoring in occupancy would reduce the currently calculated risk factors by a significant factor.
Around the country, councils and bach owners await the verdict, and they don’t have long to wait, the Council is convinced they will have the conundrum solved this time, by early 2019.
Jim Comer in front of his cave bach 1907