Julian Batchelor Rawhiti

Julian Batchelor's been a busy man.  Below is a screenshot from Mr Batchelor's website . Much of the material on Mr Batchelor's websites has been blatantly plagiarised from the local tangata whenua and their own existing land management plans, but Julian Batchelor likes to make out that all this is his idea, and he is leading the local tangata whenua who are his great friends.  This would not seem to be the case in actual fact.  In fact, emails between Mr Batchelor and Ngati Kuta kaumatua and hapu representatives expose a very ugly picture of Mr Batchelor indeed, nothing like the image Mr Batchelor likes to portray in his carefully stage managed public profile. "Recently we wrote to the Department of Conservation and the Government asking them to seriously consider . . . " blah blah - this is directly copied from the hapu resource management plans and marae websites.  But Julian Batchelor hasn't consulted with hapu at all.  His communications with the tang...

In breaking news, another local property developer has shown a similar contempt for the law to that shown by Mr Julian Batchelor - killing a tree in West Auckland without conscience or right, with utter contempt for the tangata whenua OR the english laws: 23 December 2015 7.30am The ancient Kauri in West-Auckland that has been the focus of a community campaign to save it was attacked at 6.15am this morning and viciously ring-barked risking the safety of Johno Smith occupying the tree. As the arborist lay up in the canopy he was woken by the noise below. He saw eight people suspected to be security guards dressed in black arrive on the property. Three had electric chainsaws and proceeded to cut the tree while five were waiting in a van. Shocked neighbours called out to the men who immediately stopped and departed the site but by then they had cut the full circumference. “This is vengeful action by the developer who was facing being stopped by the High C...

Te komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua received information this afternoon that Heritage New Zealand are investigating possible damage to archaeological heritage sites on the land Julian Batchelor is occupying at Rawhiti. On top of all his other problems, Batchelor now has to pay to have an archaeological report undertaken, and faces having the book thrown at him if he has damaged the ancestral wahi tapu. Julian and 'the team'

Te komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua are looking forward to viewing the information held by the FNDC and Julian Batchelor regarding the plumbing at his 'Oke Bay Lodge'.  Locals are less than impressed by Mr Batchelor's project management of the developments at Rawhiti in the breathtakingly beautiful Ipipiri (often referred to by visitors as the Bay of Islands). The crucial criteria Julian Batchelor requires from the engineer apparently consists of the following: Be a Christian Be retired Be prepared to work for no pay  Julian sees himself not so much as a real estate agent , but more as a knight in shining armour, ready to save the world and evangelise every one of the (supposedly) heathen savages of the land and anyone else who ventures forth on the 'Cape Brett Track' and everyone in the near vicinity in fact, and nothing is beyond his superman capabilities, even plumbing and building retaining walls, let alone being God's spokesperson.  His God will prov...

Statement from one of the tangata whenua: Rawhiti Bay of Islands Possible violations of FNDC consents for a large scale luxury accommodations lodge for tourists in Rawhiti, Bay of Islands, by the Auckland based ESI CHURCH Group, has got local residents and community members revved up in a fury of anger. The earth works began several weeks ago without appropriate consents which has resulted in an abatement notice being served last week.  But, unfortunately not soon enough. Many native and legacy trees on the property have been destroyed. “It breaks our heart to see, of all things, a CHURCH, bulldoze over native trees that made up the landscape of a prime and possibly one of the most beautiful locations in New Zealand, in order to make itself money, said John Willoughby Rewha Parkes of the Rawhiti Hapu Whenua alliance”. Visually, the destruction is hard to the look at. The natural shape and flow of the land has been changed to make it look more like a super...

This is the situation on the property in September when the komiti began actively recording the damage and looking into the situation regarding Mr Julian Batchelor's resource consents.  The retaining wall collapsed, several kauri trees and other vegetation had been removed and this was just the beginning of what was to come. The road also collapsed into the sea directly in front of Julian Batchelor's collapsed retaining wall at the same time. During the next six weeks or so Mr Batchelor - a real estate agent who knows the rules but chooses to ignore them, went ahead with further major works without consent from the Far North District Council, without consulting hapu or iwi, and in breach of the bylaws.

Julian Batchelor Representatives from the komiti Kaitiaki o Opourua have requested information from Far North District Council regarding all works on the site at 147 Rawhiti Road in the Bay of Islands. Last week Te Komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua urgently requested that the Far North District Council issue Mr Julian Batchelor with a Stop Work Notice effective immediately pending inquiries into breaches of bylaws and the Treaty of Waitangi, regarding work done without consent on land he occupies at Rawhiti, and the serious adverse effects of the breaches of the bylaws and unconsented works on the surrounding environment, and on the tangata whenua, our wahi tapu, and our whanau, hapu and iwi. The Notice was duly issued by the FNDC and served on Mr Julian Batchelor last week and the komiti are currently awaiting the information that they have requested from the Far North District Council according to the Official Information Act, LGOIMA and other legislation, prior to convening a...

The Far North District Council has issued Julian Batchelor with a stop work notice (Abatement Notice ordering him to stop all work immediately). The notice can be viewed at this link.

Te komiti o te Kaitiaki o Opourua me Araaka me Hauai have requested that the Far North District Council issue Julian Batchelor with a Stop Work Notice and Abatement Notice and ensure that he ceases the works and developments he is carrying out on the property at 147 Rawhiti Road at Hauai because of serious damage to the surrounding environment and the effect of this damage on the local people, as well as breaches of Far North District Council bylaws . Above is an image on Mr Julian Batchelor's slick website, this is one example of the scope of Mr Batchelor's plans for not only the land he occupies, which is under Treaty claim and should have been returned to iwi by the former occupier as Mr Batchelor is well aware, but his plans to control access to and exclusive use of everything in sight including the track to Rakaumangamanga which currently under Department of Conservation management.  Mr Julian Batchelor has also taken the liberty of renaming everything in sight too,...

This photo shows the damage to the trees and vegetation, Batchelor chopped down the historic pohutukawa tree and has erected a garish 'Christmas tree' instead. The original retaining wall Mr Batchelor erected, which soon collapsed.  The shoddy standard of work is clearly apparent The wall collapsed, taking the land with it.  At the same time, the road in front of the property collapsed, falling onto the beach. Here is the link to Julian Batchelor's application for resource consent to "construct a retaining wall within the road and boundary set up." (sic) Note Mr Batchelor only lists a Post Office box and writes "NA" - not applicable in the space where he is required to provide another address. At the top of this document it can be clearly seen that Mr Batchelor has stated that the property is owned by a limited liability private company, Grace Alone Oke Bay Holdings Limited - and not a "Christian Charitable Trust" as h...

Far North District Council 6 December 2015 Tena koutou katoa, This is to confirm our request made verbally to Kyra earlier this afternoon for all information regarding resource consent application number 2160177-RMALUC for 147 Rawhiti Rd by Julian Batchelor, and all information regarding all other applications for resource consent applications for this property and any of Mr Batchelor's other properties at Rawhiti.  In particular, and with urgency, we request all information which Mr Batchelor was required to provide to the Far North District Council by 4th December 2015 regarding the application referred to above, and clarification as to whether or not Mr Batchelor actually had proper consent or not when he went ahead with recent major earthworks etc on the property. Would you please confirm today whether or not Mr Batchelor provided all the information required by the due date, and provide it and the other information as soon as possible. Thank you ...