In 2018, amid controversy over the failed merger of Pocket 8 Ball Club with the The Olde Establishment and the Putaruru District Services Memorial Club, then environmental health manager John Anderson advised the council not to conduct such an assessment. Councillors were told it could cost as much as $40,000 and that the special consultative procedure (SCP) carried out, sufficed. Based on the advice, most councillors voted in favour of conducting an in-house desktop study of data provided by the DIA instead. That was despite councillor Arama Ngāpō, who is now serving her second term on the council, raising concerns over whether an in-house study would be “unbiased”. By 2020 an internal review of the DIA’s handling of the failed merger came to reveal years of systematic failures and legal information being withheld from ministerial briefings.
The 80-year-old said kaumātua have long treated the area as sacred. “There are burial caves across the road from us and one of the poles is going to be within metres of them,” she said. “That whole area across the road from the marae was also a huge battle site. It’s very sacred.”
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The Pokaiwhenua Stream and surrounding area between Arapuni and Putāruru is sacred to local Maori. “Sixty years ago my father-in-law told all of us to never go across. The Mangakaretu whānau are aware of this and treat the area with deep respect.
There's a shower, toilets and an incredible view but one homeless man fears it'll soon be in the rear-view mirror as the council looks to push campers out.
The invalid’s beneficiary, who wished to remain anonymous, said the move was “crazy”. It costs the council approximately $80,000 annually to maintain amenities at its freedom camping sites, however, bar a pile of crates, a ute canopy and tarpaulin at the reserve entrance it appeared tidy and deserted. “Where are we going to go when there are no houses?” he said.
Tom Lee/Stuff
Lake Whakamaru where a homeless man camps under the trees. “With the council doing what it’s doing it’s basically ignoring some of the responsibility it has to members of its community that are vulnerable.
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