Recognition for Māori in new district plan for West Coast

Monday, 19 October 2020

Treaty settlements generate a lot of heat, they take a long time to negotiate and there are all sorts of opinions about them – The Detail looks at why they are so important.

The rights and needs of tangata whenua on the West Coast are set to gain formal and much fuller recognition in the region's new district plan.

Councils and iwi are working on a single planning document to combine and update the district plans for Buller, Grey and Westland councils.

Planners say the provisions for Māori in the existing plans are 'very brief' by today's standards.

The Westland and Grey District Plans have tangata whenua chapters and the Buller plan has some provisions in its introduction, but most methods to address Māori concerns are non-regulatory.

Only a very small number of culturally significant sites are identified and these are treated in the same way as European heritage sites, lead planner Lois Easton says.

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The planners are proposing a much larger Poutini Ngāi Tahu chapter in the new plan, similar to one drafted by the Porirua District Council.

'It gives a good weight and emphasis to matters of importance to mana whenua and the relationship with the councils,' Ms Easton says.

The chapter would set out issues, objectives and policies for the iwi. Protection for significant Māori sites will also be beefed up in a big new chapter.

'The three current district plans all group Māori sites with heritage, and this is now required to be separate. In addition, the current plans do not identify, or have any provisions for wāhi tapu and wāhi taonga.

'The current sites identified are all archaeological sites; Westland has none listed and Buller and Grey have about 70 sites each. How to develop those provisions in the plan will be a key issue for the councils to work through, Ms Easton says.

Pre-1900 Māori archaeological sites significant to Māori need Heritage NZ approval for any modification. But while some sites of significance to Māori would be on Pouhere Taonga (New Zealand Heritage) list, many would not.

Trampers on the swing bridge crossing the Pororari River near Punakaiki, West Coast.

'There are many wāhi tapu, wāhi taonga and other sites significant to Poutini Ngāi Tahu that are not currently recorded on any council system. TTPP represents an opportunity to address that,” says Ms Easton.

'The planners are now working with Poutini Ngāi Tahu to decide which should be publicly listed. The hapū would be comfortable with some sites appearing on a public planning map, but the more sensitive ones would be shown only as a 200m radius area in the general location.

If the hapū approved, certain activities would be 'permitted' but otherwise resource consent would be needed for any modification of such sites.

The planners are also recommending a Māori special purpose zone, for all Native Reserves except for Mawhera Incorporation-leased land in the Greymouth urban area. It includes Mawhera Incorporation's rural land; the lower Arahura River, Arahura Marae; most of the old pā, and further south, land managed by Te Tumu Paeroa at Makaawhio River.

Ngāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio want to incorporate that land and take over its management, Ms Easton says.

'It is the main developable Māori title land they have and very important for maintaining ahi kaa. Also in the zone will be Māori land at Arawhata and Mahitahi (Bruce Bay) including wetlands at Lake Kini and Te Tauraka Waka a Māui Marae at Mahitahi.

The Mawhera Incorporation land outside the Greymouth urban area includes three blocks -- Mawhera Native Reserve, Ngā Moana e Rua Native Reserve and Cobden Native Reserve. Most of this land is not leased and is zoned rural. Much of the land involved in the proposed Māori Purposes Zone has never been alienated from the hapū, or was handed back in Treaty settlement, Ms Easton says.

Exercise of their tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty; authority) by the hapū is a key goal and there are three options to achieve that, she has advised the TTPP committee. The first option is an Iwi Management Plan under the Resource Management Act, which would allow certain activities under tikanga.

Another RMA option is co-management by the iwi and councils, and the third possibility was a transfer of power to the iwi. That would require each district council to transfer its RMA functions for the land to the relevant hapū entity.

While the use of joint management or transfer of power to iwi would be new to the West Coast such provisions are becoming more common in other regions, Ms Easton says.

The Taupō District Council and Ngāti Tūwharetoa have jointly managed 60% of the land in the Taupō district since 2009, and similar arrangements are in place in Waikato and Gisborne.

Kaumātua housing will be a permitted activity in the Māori special purpose zone and will also be provided for in the general residential zone. Any provisions made for tangata whenua in the new plan must also conform to the Mana Whakahono a Rohe agreement, which is due to be signed between Poutini Ngāi Tahu and the West Coast Regional Council.

The agreement, provided for in the RMA, commits the council and Poutini Ngāi Tahu to working together as partners. The TTPP are now seeking feedback from the TTPP committee on their proposals for the tangata whenua section of the document.