A failed legal bid to stop the removal of exotic trees on one of Tāmaki Makaurau's volcanic cones has returned to the Court of Appeal.
A group of 30 people gathered to block the entrance to Mt Albert in an effort to save trees in November 2019. Photo: NZ Herald / Jason Oxenham
Protest group Honour the Maunga began occupying the Mt Albert site in November last year.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority - in partnership with Auckland Council - governs the 14 maunga in Tāmaki Makaurau, and had consent to remove 345 non-native trees and plant 13,000 native plants as part of a restoration project on Ōwairaka and Te Ahi ka a Rakataura.
In fact, the authority had plans to carry-out an extensive restoration project to restore the native flora and fauna on all 14 maunga in Tāmaki Makaurau.
That included more than 74,000 new native trees and shrubs across all the Tūpuna Maunga (volcanic cones) by 2021, according to Auckland Council.
But the plan for Ōwairaka and Te Ahi ka a Rakataura resulted in push-back from some members of the community.
Legal action by Averil and Warwick Norman to stop the removal was rejected by the High Court late last year.
The High Court found the Tūpuna Maunga Authority did act lawfully in deciding to remove the trees and the Auckland Council had also acted lawfully in deciding to grant consent on a non-notified basis.
However, the Normans claimed public consultation for felling the trees and the management plan for the maunga was insufficient.
The lawyer for the pair claimed the consent given for the removal of the exotic trees was a breach of the reserves act and that the Tūpuna Maunga Authority had a statutory obligation to consult and engage with the local community.
They also argued "there had been no consultation" and information shared about the removal of all of the exotic trees immediately at once had not been explicit.
However, the Crown argued whether the Tūpuna Maunga Authority needed to carry-out extensive consultation, given their status as mana whenua.
The Crown also supported the Collective Redress Act in relation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, where the Tūpuna Maunga Authority had the right to carry out cultural practices and protocols.
The Normans argued the integrated management plan - which outlined the bid to restore all 14 maunga - needed to be more specific as it was an "over-arching" description for the 14 maunga but did not focus on Ōwairaka directly.
The case is set in court for the next two days.