Kāpiti Coast iwi Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai say the Government’s decision to freeze all council plan changes until 2027 threatens to reopen deep wounds over the desecration of one of their urupā.
The announcement by Resource Management Reform Minister Chris Bishop means a proposed plan change by the Kāpiti Coast District Council to protect Kārewarewa urupā as a designated wāhi tapu is now on hold.
That change was intended to reinstate protections removed in 1970 when the site lost its official cemetery designation, paving the way for housing development on ancestral graves.
Located at Waikanae Beach, Kārewarewa urupā has been used since at least 1839, following the historic battle of Kūititanga.
Half of the cemetery was developed in the 1970s, despite iwi opposition.
Attempts to develop the other half of the remaining 3,902m² portion of land on the southwestern side of Barrett Drive have continued. In 2000, it resulted in the discovery of 11 buried individuals, and development has halted since.
The most recent application to develop the remaining land was in 2019.
The Waikanae Land Company bought the land in the 1960s and gained authority from the Horowhenua County Council for residential development, including having the site’s Māori cemetery designation lifted, despite objections from iwi.
Local kaumātua, Tutere Parata, says the continued threat of development is retraumatising, for both iwi and residents.
“I don’t think you would like anyone to live on top of your tupuna. Or anyone else for that fact. It’s not hard. It’s just no. No.”
Parata recalls developers’ attempts over the years to manipulate the environment for commercial gain.
“They tried to divert the main channel of the river... things like that, against nature. That’s another battle they had… all the big ideas of a marina and people with big boats.”
The area includes Barrett Drive and Major Durie Place, with houses in that area being sold recently for upward of 1 million dollars.
Dr Mahina-a-rangi Baker, who authored a cultural impact assessment on the site and is a resource management expert, says the Government’s decision “takes away the tools that our council needs to ensure that trauma isn’t repeated – both for us as the local mana whenua, but also for potential future residents that might find themselves in that situation of living on a cemetery.”
She says the government is undermining not only Treaty obligations but sound planning.
“We’ve gone through a reconciliation process. Our council and community have recognised they need to do what they can to protect the rest of the cemetery. This proposal puts a stop on that process.”
Dr Baker says that if protections fall away, legal battles will inevitably follow.
“This decision does not provide that environment within planning where things happen efficiently. It actually makes it more complex, it slows it down and makes it more costly.”
The Waitangi Tribunal issued an urgent report in 2020 acknowledging breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the desecration and alienation of Kārewarewa urupā.
In response, KCDC notified a new plan change to schedule the urupā as wāhi tapu, but the Waikanae Land Company successfully overturned that scheduling in the High Court.
Chairperson of Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, Rawiri Tāwhai-Bodsworth, says the halt on plan changes continues a painful legacy of injustice.
“By taking away the tools that we rely upon council using to protect our taonga, the Government is again breaching Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We want the breaches of Te Tiriti to stop.”
Baker says the Government’s priorities are misaligned.
“The issue isn’t that councils need to rein in spending. The issue is that we have critical resource management responsibilities devolved to our councils, with the lowest levels of tax devolution to local government in the OECD. The Government should be addressing the funding model, not stripping councils of the tools they need.”
Minister Bishop has acknowledged that the District Council’s plan change “is likely to be impacted by the plan-stop rule,” but notes councils can apply for an exemption.
“I cannot pre-determine those decisions, but the intention is that essential plan-making can continue. Once the Bill comes into effect next month, the Ministry for the Environment will provide more information and guidance on the plan stop policy and exemptions.” He said in a statement.
Tutere Parata says the issue goes beyond planning jargon.
“I’d like to see it stop. It’s not right… You couldn’t count the number of mana whenua living here on one hand. You look at the houses here, they’re not shoeboxes, that tells a story in itself.”
“How many more headstones do you need?” he asks.
Kāpiti Coast District Council and the Waikanae Land Company have been approached for comment.
