BBC | 10 July 2016

A pristine beach in New Zealand bought through a crowdfunding campaign has been handed to its new owners - the public.

Nearly 40,000 people donated almost NZ$2.3m (£1.3m, $1.7m) to buy the Awaroa beach in the Abel Tasman National Park, on the South Island.

Campaigners snubbed a businessman who offered them money in exchange for private access to part of the beach.

The seven-hectare site will now be run by a national park.

The previous owner, businessman Michael Spackman, agreed to sell the beach after the online crowdfunding campaign reached its target in a little more than three weeks.

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The purchase ensured the beach will remain out of private hands.

"It's a great day," campaigner Duane Major told the BBC. "Sometimes you can feel powerless, so for us, it's been a marvellous experience of empowerment.

"There's been a real feeling of coming together. People in other countries have recognised what it's been all about too.

"We're in an age with various forms of technology that can pull people apart. But in this case it brought people together."

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