Crown admits Kāpiti Airport land sale breached the Treaty
Wednesday, 15 June 2022
The Kāpiti Coast Airport land is a step closer to being returned to its original owners, after the Crown admitted it did not meet its Treaty obligations when surplus land was sold by the privatised airport in the 90s.
The admission the Crown was in breach is a big change from arguments during the Waitangi Tribunal hearing in 2019, when the Crown argued it took appropriate steps to ensure the privatised airport was complying with its public works obligations.
Kāpiti Coast mayor K Gurunathan said he was “thrilled and encouraged” by the Crown’s concession it had breached te Tiriti.
This new concession from the Crown – provided to the Waitangi Tribunal on May 31 – means the current owners of the airport, known as NZPropCo or the Templeton Group, may have to offer any surplus land back to the original owners: hapū Puketapu of Te Āti Awa ki Kāpiti. During financial strain for the airport in 2020, there were rumours the Templeton Group was trying to rezone the land and sell it off for residential development.
“My council’s 2020 unanimous resolution [to support] … the return of the Paraparaumu Airport land back to the original owners has been vindicated,” Gurunathan said.
“Finally we are beginning to recognise the injustice dealt to the original owners and practical steps can be taken to redress this by restoring the mana of the people so they can take control of their own future and potential development of the land sited in the district’s urban centre.”
Gurunathan has been committed to seeing the return of the land, saying in 2020 he would be willing to join an occupation of the airport land in order to see it return to Te Āti Awa ki Kāpiti.
The recent concession admits the Crown did not do enough to protect hapū Puketapu’s interest in the airport land when surplus land on Avion Terrace was sold in 1999. Originally the Crown argued the 1999 sale was not a Treaty breach, saying it was impractical for the airport company to offer surplus land back to the hapū before selling.
The airport land was taken from Ngāti Puketapu hapū by the Crown for the airport in 1939 to build an aerodrome for the war effort, under the Public Works Act. The law requires that when public works land is sold as surplus, it is first offered back to the original Māori owners of the land – this is what the Crown failed to do when it privatised the airport and then allowed the private owners to sell off surplus land in 1999.
Hapū Puketapu of Te Āti Awa ki Kāpiti have been approached through chairperson Tony Jackson for comment.
Timeline:
1939: Land at what is now Kāpiti Coast Airport was taken by the Government from the Puketapu hapū of Te Āti Awa ki Kāpiti. The land was acquired under the Public Works Act to build a military aerodrome for the war effort.
1947-1959: Paraparaumu was New Zealand’s busiest civilian airport.
1990: A report into the 134 hectares of airport land recommended more than 110 hectares be offered back to the original owners at market value. That did not happen.
1995: Private company Paraparaumu Airport Ltd bought the airport from the Government for $1.65 million.
1999: Local group Te Whanau a Te Ngarara occupy airport land in protest of not being offered the chance to buy it back from the Government when it was no longer needed. Police arrested 24 protesters.
2018: Whānau of families whose land was acquired in 1939 give evidence to Waitangi Tribunal.
2019: Todd Property Group has a sell-off of developments and land, including the airport, to NZPropCo.
2022: The Crown concedes it breached te Tiriti o Waitangi in relation to the surplus land sold in 1999, and did not properly protect the interests of the land’s Ngāti Puketapu owners.