All hell breaks loose for ESI's Julian Batchelor:

Statement from one of the tangata whenua:
Rawhiti Bay of Islands

Possible violations of FNDC consents for a large scale luxury accommodations lodge for tourists in Rawhiti, Bay of Islands, by the Auckland based ESI CHURCH Group, has got local residents and community members revved up in a fury of anger.

The earth works began several weeks ago without appropriate consents which has resulted in an abatement notice being served last week.

 But, unfortunately not soon enough. Many native and legacy trees on the property have been destroyed.

“It breaks our heart to see, of all things, a CHURCH, bulldoze over native trees that made up the landscape of a prime and possibly one of the most beautiful locations in New Zealand, in order to make itself money, said John Willoughby Rewha Parkes of the Rawhiti Hapu Whenua alliance”.

Visually, the destruction is hard to the look at. The natural shape and flow of the land has been changed to make it look more like a supermarket car park.

It’s disturbing to look at, and also disturbing to think that a Church group is capable of such destruction.

We will be seeking redress of course, but at this point in time we are gathering all information concerning what approvals were or were not issued and for what work exactly.  We are also seeking all engineering reports and archaeological reports.

The property is registered as owned by a commercial entity of the ESI Church structure and is being project managed by Church founder Julian Bachelor.