BEING HEARD: Port Nicholson Trust natural resources advisor Liz Mellish.

WELLINGTON Town Belt principles are being reviewed and local iwi are pleased with the consultation process.

The review of principles are part of a larger review of the town belt legislature which will be carried out over the next two years.

The legislature has not been reviewed in 14 years.

Mana whenua – which is translated as the local iwi which has authority and governance of the land – are part of the consultation.

A memorandum of understanding signed between the Wellington City Council and the Port Nicholson Trust (the mana whenua) on August 26, 2010, stated that council must “ensure the trust is appropriately involved in the future management of the town belt”.

The trust is “very happy” with the consultation process with the council, which is facilitated by Wellington councillor Helene Ritchie.

Port Nicholson Trust natural resources advisor Liz Mellish says ongoing meetings with council have so far attracted good feedback.

“We invited all our constituents, workshopped it, people felt really included.”

The memorandum followed a Waitangi Tribunal report released in 2003 that said the deed settlers used to buy the Port Nicholson Block was invalid.

“From 1840 company settlers began arriving at Port Nicholson, and quickly came into conflict with local Māori, who discovered that land which they occupied and cultivated had been sold to settlers,” the report said.

The Waitangi Tribunal found that while in 1848 the Port Nicholson Block was said to contain 209,000 acres, Maori retained only 20,000 acres.

Wellington City councillor and natural environment portfolio holder Ms Ritchie says that the council talks to the trust “all the time” and that there may be future consultations.

This would enable the mana whenua to have a greater level of involvement in helping the council tell the stories of the town belt, Maori heritage and modern stories, as in accordance with principle six of the law.

Ms Ritchie explains that principle six “seeks to have a more cultural town belt” to cater for “all cultures and all heritages”.

“We take the position that the town belt is owned by all Wellingtonians.”

Ms Ritchie believes the town belt accurately reflects Maori culture, and points to the renaming of Tinakori Hill to Te Ahumairangi Hill.

“This is a representation of Maori heritage.”

Te Ahumairangi Hill has also been planted with indigenous rata to replace the dying and dangerous trees there previously.

Several issues were raised at a series of public meetings held by council, including the option of charging people to use recreation facilities, having amenities such as cafes on the town belt and turfing of playing fields.

The trust held meetings with its constituents and Ms Mellish says at the start people said no to development, then moved towards supporting managed development rather than total development.

“There are all sorts of sports that go on and there are massive areas of land that are free, the council should charge things accordingly. We support recreation that is currently there,” says Ms Mellish.

“Children need those areas where they can go and do what they need to do. You have to review these things in the light that the world changes.”

As for the future, Ms Mellish would like to formalize a plan to move forward and for the land to reflect cultural history.

“There could be a native garden with placards so it’s not just about European heritage. There’s a whole other peoples’ history [to consider].

“[There] should be a lot more culture. There are lovely rose gardens [in the Botanic Gardens], but then there are lovely rose gardens everywhere in the world.”

History of the town belt

Prior to European arrival the land that would become the town belt was occupied by Maori communities and under rangatirotanga (authority) of resident Maori.

Victoria University of Wellington associate professor in history Jim McAloon says that in 1839 the New Zealand Company sent the ship Tory over from Britain in an attempt to secure a land deal with Maori before the Crown took over.

“The Company, inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, believed its colonisation plans were superior to any Government alternative, but were based on little practical knowledge of New Zealand. The Company plans for Wellington included public reserves, including what we’d now call green belts.

“[It was] all very enlightened in terms of town planning, except the local Maori hadn’t agreed.”

In 1840, the same year the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Governor Hobson set up a commission to look into land purchases before the treaty was signed.

Mr McAloon says the commissioner found “the Company deals were shonky but that it would be too hard to shift the settlers from where they now were, so he twisted Maori arms into agreeing to waive their rights to the land in return for a further payment”.

Seven years later, Maori were given some parts of the town belt in compensation for land they had lost, but ultimately the town belt became public land in 1861 “in perpetuity”.

After the Crown assumed ownership and vacated everyone from the town belt, the land was used for a variety of purposes over the next century, including accommodating hospitals, roads and schools, as a recreation ground, and for grazing dairy cows, a timeline produced by Wellington City Council shows.

In 1873 the Crown no longer owned the town belt as it had been transferred into a trust to the City of Wellington.

The early 2000s saw the Chest Hospital and Telecom land on Te Ahumairangi Hill retuned back to the town belt.

In 2003 the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Crown breached the Treaty of Waitangi in taking the land and did not respect the rangatirotanga of Maori.

The Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika), a settlement trust with a rohe (boundary) that covers Wellington City, Hutt City and Upper Hutt City was set up in 2008 to manage the settlement package.

Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust

The settlement package included cash, commercial and cultural properties, and greater Government involvement.

Port Nicholson Trust natural resources advisor Liz Mellish says Maori never sold the town belt and they did not receive compensation.

“What people these days would give land away?”

Ms Mellish says the idea of a town belt originated in England with the establishment of factories.

“The idea of the town belt was to give people a green place to go to, but there were no large factories in Wellington.”

Ms Mellish says because under treaty settlement laws the Crown can only give back Crown land, the Port Nicholson Trust could not “receive” the town belt.

“We suggested to council a co-management strategy,” she says.

“It doesn’t change ownership, the ownership is still council, but we will work together to get a better outcome for the citizens of Wellington.”

Consultations have now finished and the next stage is to analyse submissions and review draft principles.

After further community input a Town Belt Management Plan will be prepared for public consultation.

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