Dr Michael Bassett's "Incorrect History?"- "City of Sails: the History of Auckland City Council 1989 - 2010"

"Commissioned by the final Auckland City Council as a legacy project before it was folded into the new Auckland super city, this book is the story of Auckland's growth since early times, and of the changes brought about in Auckland in 1989 after reforms driven by the then Minister of Local Government, Michael Bassett."

Dear Michael Bassett

I have recently been given details of your book:

"City of Sails: the History of Auckland City Council 1989 - 2010" by Michael Bassett.

I need to urgently discuss your retracting blatant false and malicious statements and information you have recorded in your "history" book about ACC 1989 - 2010.

At page 191, you state that:

"Flow-on legal challenges eventuates from Adrian Chisholm and the Waiheke Country Club, complaining that sewage treatment plant was going to be too close to the club's property."

Michael you are absolutely 100 percent WRONG

I had NO part in the Oneroa Village treatment plant whatsoever. I do not even know where it was final located, but clearly it would be within a short distance of the Oneroa area.

Many, many miles away, within the Onetangi Valley, my matter with the ACC, was about when I stopped ACC abusing power by attempting to use section 330 "emergency powers" of the RMA to create a raw sewage dump on a public reserve.

This was done in the in the Environment Court on 14th January  1998, where Judge Kenderdine stated during her verbal decision: that ACC treatment of Mr Chisholm was "reprehensible"

This was not a "treatment plant"  - it was the most basic and barbaric raw sewage shit dump, the size of two rugby fields and crudely constructed 30 cm x 30 cm trenches created by a bulldozer on the ACC public reserve, 3 metres from my boundary fence where I had a legitimate legal expectation that my property rights as an adjoining owner would be upheld and protected.

There was no consultation whatsoever with me and I was left to read of ACC's activities in the NZ Herald on nthe 7th January 1998.

At that time I had just spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars on lodging a resource consent under the RMA (with the very same Authority (ACC) who was abusing power across the fence) to build a $25m eco tourist lodge, conference and function centre and vineyard adjoining this ACC public golf course.

The Resource Consent had already been partly processed by ACC when this abuse of power occurred. So the ACC could not say they did not know what was happening over their fence of their public reserve.

This dispute went on from 7 Jan 1998 until 17th December 2003 and there are dozens of media reports including network news items on both TV1 and TV3, radio, newspapers, 43 court hearings in 4 court jurisdictions, including my arrest for criminal trespass (ordered by ACC) for standing as an Auckland Ratepayer in front of the bulldozers to attempt a citizens arrest and prevent the abuse of power by ACC and the desecration of a public reserve.
It also included ( I believe the only timer his occurred in the ACC offices) my sleeping the night in the Mayor's office the night of 24 February 2000, when the Mayor Chris Fletcher and CEO Bryan Taylor would not hand over a full copy of a PI report the ACC had commissioned to be done on my family. The report was shredded by order of the Auckland High Court, Justice Bruce Robertson the next day.

My question is very simple:

How could you get these two completely unrelated matters mixed up into the one event?

I am completely gob smacked.

This is not just a "mistake" - in fact I am at a complete loss to describe your basic lack of research or basic level of enquiry or cross referencing.

I need an apology and a formal retraction from your "history"book urgently.

The book must be reprinted and and the current copies withdrawn from circulation.

Please request your lawyers contact me urgently.

Yours faithfully

Adrian Chisholm
PO Box 109 452
Newmarket
Auckland 1149