The owner of this boat shed must remove the balcony, front windows, chairs, toilet, shower, barbecue and furniture - and ensure public access over the jetty.

The owner of an exclusive holiday home in the Marlborough Sounds has been ordered by the Environment Court to ensure public access across a jetty and undo boat shed modifications.

Hamish Doig, owner of the Christchurch arm of Colliers International, said Marlborough District Council had also indicated it would seek legal costs of about $40,000.

"It's pathetic. The nearest neighbour is 500 metres away. They don't want you to have a barbecue or a seat so you can enjoy the experience overlooking the water, which is why people go to the Sounds."

The resource consent for the Queen Charlotte Sound jetty and boat shed, built with the required consents in 2001, had lapsed and Marlborough District Council declined to grant a new one, so Doig appealed to the Environment Court.

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In its final decision granting consent, the court ruled Doig "must allow any person to pass across and lawfully use the jetty or external decking without charge"

"The boatshed, jetty or external decking must not be used at any time by any person in a manner which prevents or unduly hinders any other person from passing and re-passing along the jetty or external decking, or accessing the jetty with a vessel for the loading/unloading of goods and people," the Environment Court ruled.

The court required Doig to remove a balcony, side extension, toilet and shower from the boatshed, plus wine barrels, outdoor furniture, umbrella, and barbecue equipment.

SUPPLIED Colliers International owner in Christchurch, Hamish Doig.

All indoor furniture must go including couches, mattresses, bunks and chairs and recreational equipment such as a pool table - but not canoes, windsurfers, fishing equipment, boating or water-based entertainment or transport equipment.

Doig was permitted to store a golf cart he uses to travel on a pathway up the hill to his holiday residence, plus a chainsaw and one mulcher.

He must install a black roller door over all glazed doors on the front of the boatshed, paint joinery gutters and downpipes matte black, install black mesh curtains to doors and windows, and replace the first floor west elevation doors with a window "no more than 1 square metre".

Another holiday home owner, Matthew Hall, unsuccessfully sought council permission to build a boatshed next to a jetty below his Marlborough Sounds property last year.

He employed an architect to create what he thought would be an unobtrusive structure with a floating pontoon where a boat could dock and be raised into the boatshed.

"They turned it down on visual amenity grounds. I could have taken it to the Environment Court but I'd already forked out $20,000 for nothing.

"It would have made it a lot safer. I don't know if it's just jealousy against people who can afford boats or holiday homes.

"The council is forcing huge amounts of money out of people. The renewal on the jetty is coming up and will cost about $7000. I have to get an engineer's report costing $3000. It drives us nuts. It's changed our holiday experience," Hall said.

ROBYN EDIE/STUFF Boat sheds at Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island.

"There's a good reason for the Resource Management Act when you look at houses in a place like Malibu where you can't get to the beach. But it's gone too far where you get people with an obsession opposing anything someone else can afford to do," Hall said.

In the Marlborough Sounds, a strip averaging 20m above mean high tide mark and covering 900 kilometres of the 1200 km coastline has been made Sounds Foreshore Reserve managed by the Department of Conservation.

Information on the DOC web site any jetty must be for access, cannot be built on an applicant's property, must not be used for accommodation or for commercial use, and public access to the foreshore must not be restricted.