Council adds 8.9ha to public block bordering Ihuma¯ tao

Auckland Council is extending the public reserve bordering Ihuma¯tao which the mayor says is an “important contribution” to resolving the ongoing land dispute.

Its planning committee voted this week to rezone 233ha of council land citywide to public open space.

That land included a parcel of 8.9ha to add to the heritage 92ha O¯ tuataua Stonefields Reserve, a block that adjoins the land at Ihuma¯tao, at the centre of a current dispute over a planned housing development.

Mayor Phil Goff said as the city grew there needed to be more and better public open space and recreational areas for Aucklanders to enjoy.

“The decision adds considerably to our parks, conservation areas and public open space.”

The rezoning also included converting some open space to development, but Goff said that added up to less than 1ha. “This makes a nonsense of the claim that Auckland Council is selling off its land rather than making the city a greener, better place to live in and enjoy,” Goff said.

The council-owned land near Ihuma¯tao at 619 O¯ ruarangi Rd would be rezoned from future urban development to public open space.

Days after protests against the Fletcher Residential development planned at Ihuma¯tao escalated, the council voted at a governing body meeting for all parties involved with the disputed lands to come together to avoid “another Bastion Point”. At the meeting some councillors expressed regret at signing off the land for a Special Housing Area in 2014.

Goff said during this week’s meeting the rezoned land was an “important contribution we can make towards the resolution of the issues at Ihuma¯ tao”.

The land being added also held the historic Rennie homestead.

The land at Ihuma¯tao is regarded as sacred to Ma¯ ori, and about a dozen people have occupied it over the past three years in protest against the planned housing development.

One of the groups claiming mana whenua to the area supports the development, which would see 8ha of the originally confiscated land returned to Ma¯ori and houses set aside.

But mana whenua fall on both sides of the dispute.