Threats of trespass and police intervention has forced a Welcome Bay woman to back down on her protest against developers who have been blocking her driveway in Welcome Bay.

Sheila Tippet was threatened when she returned the favour on Monday and parked across her right of way, blocking access to contractors' vehicles which have been blocking her Osprey Drive right of way for the last two weeks.

In spite of repeated letters to Tauranga City Council there has been no reply.

Sheila says she only found out about the scale of the development along her shared right of way when she found a copy of the service plans in her flowerbed.

They knew owner/developer Hans Pieter Myer wanted to build on the sections, says Sheila.

'We told him we had real concerns about that but we didn't think any more of it, because when we went to seek permission to turn a shed into an independent dwelling, the council said ‘no' because it was served by an undersized right of way,” says Sheila.

They didn't think the developer had permission to build until the plans blew over the retaining wall.

Meanwhile, Sheila and her neighbours have over the last two weeks been blocked in and blocked out by contractors and council vehicles parking in the drive, or digging up the drive, and doing it without notice or informing the Tippetts or the neighbours.

'Everyone says ‘It's not my problem, Oh I am just doing ‘X'.

'Whoever's problem it is need to look on the section that is being developed and as a matter of urgency instead of digging up the right of way for pipes - the first thing they should be doing in my opinion - they need to create a place these construction vehicles can pull off the right of way.

'I understand they have to bring materials in, I'm not stupid. But I also understand if they had made a better effort they could have pulled their vehicles off the right of way - so they could be building and we could still be using it.

'We bought this house at a mortgagee auction because someone went bankrupt trying to do a property development on land served by an undersized right of way. So we just didn't expect to see major development of the land.

'The council already said ‘no' to two or three people already, why would they have a change of heart?"

Sheila's right of way on Saturday morning.

The right of way cannot be widened, says Sheila. On one side there is a sheer drop and the people on the other side had had at least two people asking them to sell a slice of their section to enable the drive to be widened, and they refused to sell.

The issue is the traffic created by each household. Every household has at least two cars and they right of way is already congested.

'If I am turning into the right of way and someone is coming down the right of way you have to back out into Osprey Drive. There are cars parked on the roadside. There are buses whizzing back and forth. The road is steep.

'We have had people total their cars on this stretch already. People who live on Osprey are very concerned about the speeding. There was a speed hump but they had to take it out because the buses went over it so fast the vibrations were creating damage to houses on either side.”

After Shelia blocked the drive the contractors told her they were trying to do concrete today, and that it would only be a couple of hours.

'I said would you have come and told me if I hadn't blocked the drive,” says Sheila.

'They denied us permission to convert a shed to a cottage because of the right of way, so you can understand why I was worried about the size of the development next door.

'We can't have a cottage but he's allowed two extra houses. He was supposed to have one on each, but got consent for four.

'What is going on here? Why suddenly are we having so many houses off this right of way. If it's a discretionary consent why didn't they discuss it with us? Why have we never been approached by anyone?

'In the planning report it's my favourite bit, it says: ‘It has been determined that there are no persons adversely affected by this activity'.”

Tauranga City Council manager environmental planning Natalie Rutland says that at 101 Osprey Drive there's an existing driveway which serves five properties, the subdivision site and 103 and 107 Osprey Drive.

Council considered the effects of allowing an extra site to use the driveway, and granted the subdivision with conditions. The subdivision of the three properties into four fits with the City Plan's density rules.

'We don't have a record of previous consents being denied for subdivision or extra houses on the same site,” says Natalie. 'There is a previous history of subdivision on the site and on the neighbouring property at 103 Osprey Drive. Subdivision consents at 103 Osprey Drive were approved, but it looks like the applicant did not carry out the proposal and the consents lapsed.”