It also postponed any further work on SNAs until the Government finalises its national policy statement on indigenous biodiversity, which will set the SNA rules in concrete. But the planning team charged with writing the new district plan says there is no guarantee the national policy statement will be out before the new draft plan is due to go out for public consultation. “It is absolutely critical to have some rules in there . it would be unfair to landholders and the community if there is no indication of the provisions we will have,” principal planner Lois Easton said. It was not known how different the final version of the national policy statement might be from the draft, but Government officials had ruled out any “carve out” or exceptions for the West Coast.
Photo: 123RF
Members of the Te Tai o Poutini plan committee agonised over the issue for more than an hour at their meeting on Monday, trying to find ways to avoid slapping the significant natural area label on private land.
A majority of the committee sees the process as an attack on private property rights.
Last month the committee refused, by a narrow majority, to accept a desktop study it had commissioned, mapping SNAs across the region.
It also postponed any further work on SNAs until the government finalises its national policy statement on indigenous biodiversity which will set the SNA rules in concrete.
The formal feedback on the issue had come mostly from Airbnb owners – 49 of the 56 submitters were owners of short-term visitor accommodation. The small number of others who provided feedback were all worried about Airbnbs taking residential dwellings out of the owner-occupier and longer-term rental market. Since October 2020 the number of Airbnbs on the West Coast has dropped by 30 per cent (240 properties) and current occupancy rates were less than 50 per cent, the planners reported. “Whether these 240 properties have returned to other housing markets, or just been withdrawn from Airbnb listings is not known but is likely related to the decline in tourism in parts of the West Coast,” they said.
The new SNA map captures 95 per cent of all private land on the West Coast, according to Westland Mayor Bruce Smith. It also includes DOC stewardship land, which will skew the independent evaluation of that land that s supposed to be getting under way, Smith told the meeting. We are now up to 91.5 per cent of Westland controlled by DOC or other protection . we should not receive this report - it takes away property rights without consent.
Māori TV
Tāmati Tiananga of Te Ao Mārama speaks with Kuia Hine Puru, daughter of the famous mana wahine, and kuia from Te Tai Tokerau, Māori rights activist Dame Whina Cooper.
The new combined district plan for the West Coast - now under construction - will recognise the land rights and rangatiratanga of Poutini Ngāi Tahu by creating Māori purpose zones on ancestral whenua.
The Open Bay Islands off the coast of Haast are among areas that may be recognised as coming under the land rights and rangatiratanga of Poutini Ngāi Tahu.
Photo: Te Ara
Councils and iwi working on Te Tai o Poutini Plan last week scrutinised the draft rules for the zones after approving the overall objective in February.
The Māori purposes zone is defined as an area used mainly to meet Māori cultural and development needs, including residential and commercial activities. The zoning enables Māori to assert tino rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over the land within it, and where an iwi management plan is in place it takes precedence over any default rules.