A council decision to approve a lease in principle on culturally significant land in Tokomaru Bay was made without a full swathe of information available to councillors, a report has revealed.
Last September, Gisborne District Council’s operations committee OK’d the granting of a new lease at Hatea-a-Rangi Memorial Park.
The applicant, Tokomaru Bay United Sports Club, has leased land at the park since 1981, remaining on site after the arrangement quietly expired in 2014.
Its most recent lease application also requested an option to redevelop an area outside its clubrooms for a multi-purpose court.
But in a report prepared for the council’s final decision this week, the hearing panel indicated there were gaps in available information when the September vote was cast.
“The panel accepts that the cultural significance of the land was not explicitly stated or discussed in the decision reports or decision made by council regarding an intention to grant a lease,” the report stated.
“We note, however, the Reserve Management Plan (2000) refers to the cultural significance of the land.”
The panel also said the dissolving of the Park Domain Board in 1989 had reduced the ability of the original Māori landowners’ descendants to manage the park.
“The panel acknowledges this has detrimentally impacted the mana of those descendants.”
Following the council’s approval in principle last September, feedback from the community constituted “significant objection”, prompting a May hearing where a council panel heard from both sides.
Those in favour of the lease said the clubrooms were a valuable community hub, and that the extension to the facility would benefit the community.
But those in opposition said the land was wāhi tapu, and should never have been used in the first place.
They also pointed to the nefarious manner in which the land was originally taken, saying it should be returned.
A 2008 document for the Waitangi Tribunal’s East Coast Inquiry revealed a cricket-loving European settler upset Māori landowners by repurposing the land without permission after he leased it.
A letter obtained by Local Democracy Reporting also shows council was made aware of ongoing concerns surrounding the land’s use as early as 1997 — the same year the club began constructing its clubrooms.
On March 24 of that year, Nga Hapū o Tokomaru Ākau representative Roger Tichborne wrote to then-chief executive Bob Elliot in his capacity as temporary chairperson Te Ari Uru Marae and executive project manager Tawhiti Blocks.
Mr Tichborne informed Mr Elliot the site was urupa and battleground, and therefore wāhi tapu.
A pou whenua rahui was placed on the land when koiwi (skeletal remains) were unearthed during construction, Mr Tichborne told Local Democracy Reporting.
But not all in the community agreed the bones unearthed were human, and the project was allowed to continue after the Historic Places Trust and district council determined doing so would not further disturb the soil.
The council’s Reserve Management Plan (2000) lists the area as a historic tribal battle and burial ground, noting it was also used as a burial site for victims of the influenza epidemic in the 1920s.
The panel recommends a lease be granted for a term of 33 years, according to the report prepared for Thursday’s full council meeting at Rangiwaho Marae.
It also directs council staff to investigate establishing a co-governance agreement for the ongoing management of Hatea-a-Rangi Memorial Park.
The panel consists of Tony Robinson, Larry Foster, Aubrey Ria and Teddy Thompson.