Engineers for The Wellington Company turned away from Shelly Bay occupation site

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Anaru Mepham of Mau Whenua talks about the history and importance of Shelly Bay.

Engineers for The Wellington Company (TWC) have been turned away from Shelly Bay land that is being occupied by protesters opposing a planned $500 million redevelopment.

The Wellington City Council land is due to be handed over to the development company in the next couple of months after councillors voted in November to sell and lease it as part of the planned redevelopment.

Members of Mau Whenua, a group of Taranaki Whānui iwi members opposing the sale, have been occupying the site since the council deal was struck.

Spokesperson Anaru Mepham said a group of about five engineers from engineering company Geotech arrived at the site about 7.30am on Wednesday.

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Mau Whenua spokesperson Anaru Mepham says occupiers turned Geotech engineers away from the Shelly Bay site on Wednesday morning. (File photo)

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The protesters approached the engineers, who then decided to leave the site, Mepham said.

There was no physical contact and the protesters did not engage in conversation with the engineers, he said.

The Wellington Company director Ian Cassels says he wants to start work as soon as possible on the land that is “legitimately ours”. (File photo)

Following this, Shelly Bay development director Earl Hope-Pearson attempted to “engage” with the protesters, but some of them “got in his path”, Mepham said.

“Our stance is that we will prevent this group from coming onto our whenua.”

Mau Whenua was prepared to have a hui with the engineers off-site, he said.

An internal Mau Whenua email sent on Friday revealed the group was expecting engineers to begin site investigation work as part of its due diligence for the project in the next few days.

“The site investigation will include drilling test bores next week using a portable drilling rig on both TWC land and WCC [Wellington City Council] land,” the email said.

“We are currently working through the health and safety implications of the work on WCC land.”

The Wellington Company director Ian Cassels confirmed engineers had turned up to begin site investigation works on Wednesday morning.

“We’re trying to get moving on a site that is legitimately and properly ours.”

Cassels said he did not want to make any further comment.

The council currently owns 3.5 hectares of land at Shelly Bay, including the land being occupied. It will retain 2.6ha for public use, lease about 0.58ha and two buildings on a 125-year deal for commercial mixed-use development, and sell about 0.36ha for housing.

The council said on Wednesday it had given permission for The Wellington Company contractors to carry out initial investigation work at the site.

It said it was monitoring the dispute between the company and Mau Whenua and was “considering its options”.

A date for the handover of land ownership had not been set, but in the meantime The Wellington Company could not legally request Mau Whenua to leave the site, it said.

When asked what would happen if the protesters refused to leave once the land was handed over, the council said that would be a matter for The Wellington Company to address.

The Shelly Bay redevelopment proposal is a partnership between The Wellington Company and the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST), which represents Taranaki Whānui, according to the council's key commercial terms for the development.

Trust chair John Coffey could not be reached for comment.