The new owner of the Papamoa beach log is going to find bureaucrats circling like seagulls if they try and take their purchase away.

Rosalie Crawford, who runs Papamoa's 6000-strong community Facebook page, put the log up for sale on TradeMe with a one dollar reserve, which was met almost immediately.

The famous Papamoa log, which has been put up for sale on TradeMe. Photos: File.

The successful bidder, however, will have to leave the log where it is or face the prospect of obtaining a resource consent from Tauranga City Council if they wish to remove it.

Regional council senior planner Jo Noble says council bylaw only permits vehicles on the beach for specific purposes or if they're authorised by the authorities.

The taking of natural material from the foreshore and seabed is controlled by the Resource Management Act.

While the removal of a few shells or driftwood is not a concern, removing quantities of material to sell for a profit is.

'Also, if the method of removal is going to generate disturbance (for example using heavy machinery to remove the material) then a resource consent would be required,” confirms Jo.

Removing driftwood is a permitted activity in the regional Coastal Environment Plan and doesn't need a resource consent as long as vehicles are not used on the foreshore.

This essentially limits the amount that an individual can remove as well as any disturbance to the foreshore.

'In this case, the biggest issue is probably how they're intending to move the log,” adds Jo.

Tauranga City Council staff say the city's beach bylaw doesn't prevent anyone auctioning something for charity, but there may be RMA restrictions and other cultural considerations that need to be factored.

'Retrieving the log from the beach is not an option,” says communications advisor Marcel Currin, 'so they would probably need to use a barge to drag it back into the sea and tow it to the Port.”

Rosalie doesn't own the log, which has been drifting around Papamoa for some time, though she's unsure if it is the same log that features in family photos from ten years ago.

'This is kind of a fun thing to promote Papamoa,” admits Rosalie.

'We have people who have said ‘we got our photo taken with the Papamoa log when we were kids, and we are going down to retake the photo'.

'Cleary that it's a different log doesn't bother people. And who knows? It could be the same log.”

Rosalie admits she doesn't actually own the log even though she is auctioning it to raise funds for charity.

'Any money will go to the Evans Road community who do food parcels at night,” she explains. 'We will put the money through that.

'We note that the log has so far only attracted one bid for $1 so for now we prefer to treat the TradeMe auction as the tongue-in-cheek exercise that it appears to be.”

The log has its own hashtag #papamoalog, and has developed a habit of photo bombing family pictures, says Rosalie.

It is not always there, and sometimes disappears for a few nights at a time.

And she admits she doesn't know what the successful bidder might want to do with the log.

'They could put a plaque on it saying ‘this log belongs to…' or they could sell use of the log for people to have their photo taken.

'People might even like to put it in their garden.

'We have got the Papamoa Polar Plunge on June 21, so maybe a whole lot of people might be able to drag it up.

'Papamoa Unlimited are going to run a horse race on the beach sometime, so maybe we could get some help from the horse riders as well.

'I should have thought ahead and put a permission into the Regional Council.”

Rosalie sees the log as public art, in the same category as the Armco Pa site and the Spinifex on the Tauranga Eastern Link site.

'It goes out and comes back again, so it's used to coming back on the tide,” she adds.

'Every time the log floats back we take a photo for the Papamoa Facebook page. The log has returned, and people rush down and have photos taken with it.

'It's become a thing.”

The auction closes on Sunday June 14 at 11.12pm.