Hatea-a-Rangi Memorial Park in Tokomaru Bay is at the centre of debate about a lease for the local sports club. The core issues centre around the discovery of koiwi at the site in 1997, and the club potentially expanding its footprint on the land. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Ben Cowper
A lease application for culturally significant land at Tokomaru Bay has been given final approval, against the wishes of some who say they are descendants of the original owners.
On Thursday afternoon, Gisborne district councillors approved a series of recommendations to lease land at Hatea-a-Rangi Memorial Park to Tokomaru Bay United Sports Club.
The applicant has held a lease at the park since 1981, remaining on site after it quietly expired in 2014.
Under the new arrangement, the land could be leased for a further 33 years - beginning with an 11 year term followed by two rights of renewal.
The club's request has received strong objection from sections of the community, who say the land is wāhi tapu due to koiwi (skeletal remains) being discovered there in 1997 during the clubroom's construction.
One of those objectors, Tracey Whakataka, presented to council at its Thursday meeting on Rangiwaho Marae.
Whakataka began by telling those gathered she was a descendent of the original landowners, and did not consent to the lease or any changes to the land.
She also referenced a May hearing that was held on the matter, saying some of the councillors present at that seemed unaware of the information her whānau was presenting.
"You also acknowledge in the report that's come from the hearing panel that the history is significant. But just acknowledging it is not enough. You need to make the truth be known. You need to let the true history be known."
Tracey Whakataka pictured at Rangiwaho Marae on Thursday, where she spoke against the granting of a lease to a sport's club at Tokomaru Bay. Photo: LDR / Matthew Rosenberg
The council's hearing panel confirmed this week that the land's cultural significance was not explicitly stated or discussed in decision reports which led to the lease application being approved in principle by the council last September.
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 one hundred years ago.
Community feedback on the proposed lease constituted "significant objection" late last year, prompting a May hearing to determine the best path forward.
This week, the hearing panel recommended the lease be granted while directing council staff to investigate the establishment of a co-governance agreement for the ongoing management of the park.
Whakataka questioned what "investigate" meant, labelling that suggestion as tokenistic.
"Gisborne District Council continue to perpetuate intergenerational trauma on my whānau and my future generations," she told those gathered at Thursday's meeting.
Hearing panel chair Tony Robinson said the word investigate had been used because if the panel were to state a co-governance plan as the best option, that would predetermine the other party's position.
Meanwhile, deputy mayor Josh Wharehinga questioned the council's engagement with mana whenua on the issue, saying the council's efforts needed to go further than sending out emails, which is what he understood had happened in the case of the Tokomaru land.
"We're dealing with intergenerational interruptions of connections to our whenua. I'm sure there's ways we could have done this in a meaningfully engaged way."
Māori ward councillor Rhonda Tibble laid out a series of concerns at Thursday's meeting, saying the council did not have enough information on the history of the whenua. Photo: Supplied via LDR
Māori ward councillor Rhonda Tibble gave an impassioned speech, detailing the issues that surround the land because of the council's lack of knowledge about its history.
That included alienation, which had resulted from both land court decisions and layers of legislation.
"If we were to push it to one side ... then we would progress without any conscience on our behalf," she said.
Tibble proposed due diligence of the land's history be undertaken to set the record straight.
She said determining the land's original owners would help bring clarity to who should be entering in co-governance with the council.
"In terms of the lease itself, that proposition would still deny the truth."
On Friday, Whakataka told Local Democracy Reporting the bottom line for her whānau was having the whenua returned to the original land owners and their descendants.
"We were disappointed at the recommendations from the hearing committee panel, but were not surprised at the bread crumbs they were trying to offer," she said.
"I am grateful that some of (the) councillors heard my words I shared on behalf of my whānau, and that the contributions from the debate allowed for the recommendations to be amended slightly.
"We will not stop fighting until the narrative is corrected with the truth, the history, the whakapapa, and the whenua is returned."
The council's final recommendations approved on Thursday include establishing a co-governance arrangement for the park's future management, undertaking historic due diligence on the land's ownership to inform the membership of that co-governance, and amending the wording of the lease term from 33 years to 11 years with two rights of renewal.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air