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New Zealand Crowdfunds $1.7 Million To Buy A Private Beach (fastcoexist.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the beach-buys dept.

An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes an article from FastCoExist: When debt-troubled businessman Michael Spackman put his private New Zealand beach on sale, Kiwis started a crowdfunding campaign to buy it back for the public... The crowdfunding campaign raised $1.7 million in donations from around 40,000 people. Even the New Zealand government contributed $254,000.
The BBC reports that the campaign "snubbed a businessman who offered them money in exchange for private access to part of the beach," with the campaign's creator calling this an example of technology's power to unite people for a common cause. "Sometimes you can feel powerless, so for us, it's been a marvelous experience... There's been a real feeling of coming together."

2 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Foolish Investment? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    A quick Google reveals that it's been privately owned since the first European settlement in the area around the 1860s. He didn't buy it from the NZ Government. They, in turn, would find it almost impossible to sell back into private ownership, owing to both public sentiment and the virtual certainty of a Treaty Claim

    You might find this article about the Queen's Chain interesting as well. Note:

    As a whole the Queen's Chain is expanding as private coastal land is subdivided, and the Government has indicated it wants to expand public access to the coast further.

  2. Re:Ok but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The law in NZ has always allowed private ownership of beaches, and other foreshore property, and still does assuming you can convince the current owner to sell it to you.
    Most (but not all) of what would be considered beaches is currently owned by the Government, however that doesn't necessarily guarantee access unless you have a boat or can swim. There's no law requiring any private landowners in front of the public space to provide access. For example, in the case of the beach under discussion here (which is in fact now owned by the Government and held as conservation land) the only practical access was by boat.
    Probably most interestingly, but not mentioned in TFS is that the local iwi (Maori tribe) are considering now filing a case for return of the land to them. At which point the beach would revert to private ownership, and everyone who contributed to the crowd funding would have donated in vain.