Southern Links route
New Zealand Transport Agency only needs 6.4 per cent of the 36.631ha of Narrows Golf course land it paid $20 million for less than a decade ago.
The former Narrows golf course
The portion needed for Southern Links, one of the government’s roads of national significance, takes in what once was the course’s second, seventh, 11th and 15th greens,
It then cuts an easterly swathe through Waikato countryside, across Pencarrow Rd, north of Day Rd, dissecting Tamahere Drive and then onto the SH1 Expressway.
The road starts at Kahikatea Drive in Hamilton.
A map provided to The News shows NZTA needs 23,602sq m of the former Narrows land to build the road. The rest of the land is zoned rural in the Waikato district and is in the process of being disposed of under the Public Works Act.
Andrew Corkill
That means it must first be established whether the Crown needs it, said Regional Relationships director Andrew Corkill.
Then the former Narrows Golf Club – now Riverside – gets first refusal as the owner of the land NZTA acquired it from. If Riverside, which used the bulk of the money to redevelop its former Lochiel course into Tīeke Golf Estate, does not want it or cannot afford it, then it is offered to Māori under a Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
The land was populated for centuries by Māori because of its fertility and proximity to the Waikato River, a source of food and transport.
The first refusal process includes working with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Department of Conservation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities.
See: What’s next for the links?
The two-storey Narrows clubhouse has been demolished. In its heyday the 19th hosted thousands of golfers who had a birdseye view of the demanding par three finishing hole. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Portion of land need
