With talk of using the Public Works Act to acquire land for housing in places like Auckland, McCardle said his harrowing experience of having his rights and interests trampled over should serve as a warning to owners of land being compulsorily acquired.
It was not the first time his family had been treated that way.
Land from the family farm north of Waikanae was taken for roading in the late 1980s and it wasn’t until the early 1990s that compensation was paid.
History repeated itself in 2011 when McCardle was approached by the Transport Agency saying it needed 18ha of his 70ha dairy support farm for the McKays Crossing to Peka Peka expressway.
He described what followed as a tale of pressure, constant design changes and unplanned earthworks destroying hopes of buying back surplus land once the road was built followed latterly by delays resolving compensation.
McCardle said he was offered half what he believed the land was worth.
“My advice is don’t get a lawyer, get a rottweiler.”
Those facing compulsory acquisition should take notes from every discussion with officials and never treat any discussion as off the record.
“Make everything legal and don’t do what I did and say ‘it’ll be okay, everything will be sorted’.
“Everything has a value and what they tell you they are going to do and what they actually do are two very different things.”
Initially McCardle was happy with the road design which would allow him to continue farming.
“I said ‘I can’t stop progress of the road. I understand they are able to take it and I am happy to co-operate so long as I get treated fairly’.”
The agency employed The Property Group to negotiate with McCardle and initially they were friendly and willing to compromise on areas in dispute.
But that changed in late 2012 when design changes required the taking of a further 6ha for a site yard. But he considered the price offered as too low.
McCardle’s response was to offer to negotiate the sale of the whole farm provided he had first refusal to buy it back once the road was built.
He considered leasing but constant design changes, lease conditions imposed and disruption such as finding his hay barn fenced off and locks on gates made it impossible to stay.
The response was a sudden purchase offer and just 30 days in which to decide or it would be acquired under the PWA.
If he refused to meet the deadline he was told there would be no money up front and he faced a prolonged legal battle to get compensation.
McCardle felt compelled to sign then negotiate a settlement, a process he ensured by lodging a claim with the Land Valuation Tribunal which kept the case alive.
The farm was sold in May 2013 and while declining to release the amount of money involved, he said he was offered half what he believed the farm was worth.
Since then the process of negotiating a settlement with TPG had been painfully slow and once the land was sold it was if they did not want to know him.
“I am trying to get real value for my land. I’m not trying to win Lotto.”
He has spent $200,000 fighting for his interests and rights, lost the bulk of his income and has been out of the property market for three years.
The power the agency had surprised McCardle.
Peat soil on his farm had been dug up and dumped on sandhills creating 12m to 15m high banks on the property, work that McCardle said was never included in plans he saw.
“They can do work and get variations above and beyond their consents,” he said.
“We all take freehold tenure as meaning something but it is this perverse application of the Public Works Act that has got me so wild.”
Blair McCardle
The experience showed the Kapiti farmer that property rights were paper thin.
“We all take freehold tenure as meaning something but it is this perverse application of the PWA that has got me so wild.”
The Property Group was invited to respond to McCardle’s claims but declined saying it was not authorised to do so.
