Maori interests to gain formal recognition

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 — Te Tai o Poutini (One Plan) — to combine and update the district plans for the Buller, Grey and Westland councils.

Planners say the provisions for Maori 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 Maori concerns are nonregulatory.

Only a very small number of culturally significant sites were identified and these were treated in the same way as European heritage sites, the planners said.

They were proposing a much larger Poutini Ngai 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,’’ the planners said.

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

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

The current sites identified were all archaeological sites. Westland had none listed and Buller and Grey had about 70 sites each.

How to develop those provisions in the plan was a key matter for the councils to work through, the planners said.

Pre1900 Maori archaeological sites significant to Maori required Heritage New Zealand approval for any modification, but while some sites of significance to Maori would appear on the Pouhere Taonga (New Zealand Heritage) list, many would not.

The planners are also recommending a Maori 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 pa; and further south, land managed by Te Tumu Paeroa at the Makaawhio River.

Ngati Mahaki ki Makaawhio wanted to incorporate that land and take over its management, the planners noted.

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 next week between Poutini Ngai Tahu and the West Coast Regional Council.

The agreement, provided for in the RMA, commits the council and Poutini Ngai Tahu to working together as partners.

The planners are now seeking feedback from the One Plan committee on their proposals for the tangata whenua section of the document. — Greymouth Star