THE Southern Environment Association (SEA) is prepared for direct action to prevent Wellington City Council from selling off land at Owhiro Bay.

"When land was owned by Milburn [quarry company] we took direct action at times which caused great embarrassment to Milburn and the council," says SEA secretary Robert Logan.

"SEA and other community organisations are absolutely committed to having this land in public ownership and we’ll fight the city council until they change their mind."

Last month the council agreed to sell two sections bordering reserve land at Owhiro Bay quarry to pay for an upgrade of the old quarry carpark, seen as the gateway to the south coast.

The area is the entrance and gateway to one of Wellington’s most popular reserve areas, serving Red Rocks and the Sinclair Head seal colony.

One of the more disappointing aspects of the council’s decision to sell the blocks of land is that it marks a reversal in an otherwise good relationship between the council and the residents, who lobbied the council to purchase the land, Logan says.

"It’s been a five-year process rehabilitating the area and the community and council have worked hand in hand," he says. "The community trusted the council to listen to us when we said the land has to be kept in public ownership and now we find that trust misplaced.

"That was a great shock to the system. The council has basically opened up a whole new course of confrontation."

The decision to sell was recommended by the Strategy and Policy Committee but needed to be ratified by the full council. The recommendation was accepted by the council at a meeting that the Southern Ward councillors Bryan Pepperell and Celia Wade-Brown missed.

"The Southern Ward councillors have both come back from overseas and they’ve both indicated they’re unhappy with the decision that’s been made," says Logan. "They also indicated that there are procedures for decisions of this kind to be revisited."

"There wouldn’t be a reserve at Owhiro Bay – the quarry would still operating if the community hadn’t stopped it.

"There’s a born to rule arrogance at the council. A reserve that the community fought tooth and nail to protect is now a plaything for people at city hall. The council doesn’t have a moral right to play with something we fought for."

The land was identified as surplus to council requirements in the 2002 South Coast Management Plan, says Strategy and Policy Committee Chair Robert Armstrong.

"The land could be made into six car parks at a value of between $80-100,000 per car park," says Armstrong.

The item had been on the agenda for some months and, although both Southern Ward councillors were overseas during the meeting, neither of them asked for the topic to be deferred to another meeting, says Armstrong.

Ha also says some local residents are comfortable with the sale.

"I was advised that, as recently as February, the Owhiro Bay Residents Association voted in favour of the sale."

The council intends spending $700,000 upgrading the reserve. This is not a precedent for selling off some land to cover the cost of refurbishing nearby land, says Armstrong.

"Normally we separate the two issues."