PHOTO: A screenshot of the planned marina. Source: rnz.co.nz

Developers and locals fighting over a planned marina on Waiheke Island are holding an urgent meeting today after a protest on the water forced work to stop on the project.

By rnz.co.nz’s The Detail

The Kennedy Point Marina has been described by one campaigner as an offensive, elitist edifice – but the developers say they have the legal consent to go ahead with it.

A group of protesters who have been camping on the beach have vowed to stay there until the marina plans are scrapped. They claimed a victory on Monday after a protesting kayaker blocked a barge that was scheduled to start work removing rocks in Putiki Bay.

Work has stopped for now but the company, Kennedy Point Boatharbour has won the legal battle so far.

Today, The Detail profiles the main players in the dispute, with the developer on one side and locals, iwi and environmentalists on the other. The saga is complicated further by the split in Ngāti Pāoa and the division among residents.

“It’s almost like a flashpoint of change on Waiheke Island,” says NZME‘s property editor Anne Gibson. “This has become a central argument where people are saying, ‘we don’t want this here’.

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