Golf course decision due
Iwi wants changes made to course design
The decision on whether a proposal to build a $50 million world-class golf course near Ōhau has resource consent is expected on Monday with one iwi still voicing concern.
Ngāti Tukorehe wants major changes to the current Douglas Links course design to avoid an area it says is wāhi tapu (sacred area).
A condition of sale between the developer Hamish Edwards and the current landowner was that the 18-hole seaside links course be granted resource consent by regional council Horizons.
Horizons held a two-day resource consent hearing at Te Taketanga o Kura-hau-pō in early May, where it heard submissions from Edwards’ company Grenadier Ltd and affected parties.
Representatives from Ngati Kikopiri, Muaūpoko and Ngāti Tukorehe iwi were consulted through the resource consent process and made submissions at the hearing.
Both Muaū poko and Ngati Kikopiri had since indicated their support of the proposal, identifying cultural effects from the course design as less than minor.
Ngati Tukorehe remains opposed, identifying an area of the proposed site as wā hi tapu, while also criticising the consultation process in its latest submission to Horizons.
Historical accounts refer to a settlement and pā site called Tirotirowhetu, located on the southwestern boundary of 765 Muhunoa West Rd, near the Ōhau River mouth.
The whole Tirotirowhetu area should be left alone, Te Iwi o Ngāti Tukorehe Trust chairwoman Tina Wilson said in a submission lodged with Horizons in early June.
“Our role as guardians of our area is to ensure that any person entering that area can do so in a physically, spiritually and culturally safe manner . . . ,” Wilson said in the submission.
“Our role as kaitiaki [guardian] in this instance is to protect others from their ignorance or foolishness.”
Kaitiaki had warned during the submission process that ignorance of the tapu could result in sickness or death.
Wilson’s submission said while Grenadier’s engagement had been respectful, it was at the same time tokenistic and “. . . yet another trampling of our iwi mana by the applicant”.
“In order for us to move forward, we advised that Tirotirowhetu would need to be excluded from the course design.
“We were advised that this was not possible and non-negotiable.
“This shortfall heightens a collision between eurocentric and Māori values . . . this goes deeper than identity into preference of one worldview at the expense of another.”
Edwards had maintained throughout the consent process he wanted to ensure the history of the land and its significance to tangata whenua was acknowledged, seeing that as an important aspect of the development.
He had inherited a love of golf from his late father Douglas Edwards and initially wanted to name the course Douglas Links, in his honour.
But Wilson’s submission described the renaming of whenua (land) as “the final act of the coloniser”.
It was also concerned about pollution from stray golf balls.
Ngāti Tukorehe owned neighbouring blocks of freehold land managed by its company Tahamata Farming Inc.
In its submission, Grenadier Ltd’s lawyer John Maassen said it had engaged with tangata whenua throughout the process in good faith. “The reasons for Ngāti Tukorehe’s current approach are unclear to Grenadier Ltd,” he said in his submission.
“The ideological filters of some of the current representatives of Ngāti Tukorohe frame a strong oppression narrative along racial lines. “Respectfully, Grenadier Ltd disagrees, and its position is not based on ethnocentric colonisation as Ngāti Tukorehe claims.
“That has not proved to be a good foundation for rational discourse on resource management matters,” he said.
“Ngāti Tukorehe seems to consider that Grenadier Ltd’s financial resources should be used to create something like a reserve on the site and the use of the remainder of the land for a 9-hole golf course. “Grenadier wishes to improve the biodiversity and natural character values of the land and continue to consult with iwi on acknowledging this collective history with the site respectfully with willing parties,” he said.
The initial application lodged by Grenadier with Horowhenua District Council more than two years ago did not have the land flagged as a site of cultural significance in its District Plan.