Luz Zuniga/Staff
Recreational boaters at the Maori Pa Road property on Delaware Bay north of Nelson are protesting Nelson City Council’s ban on launching boats from the property. (File photo)
A long-running dispute between an iwi and a recreational boating company over access to Delaware Bay at the top of the South Island is currently before the Environment Court.
Nelson City Council has asked the court for a declaration that vehicles are not allowed to enter the Wakapuaka Estuary under the Nelson Resource Management Plan.
This estuary has been used as a launch site by fishing and boating communities for decades due to its safety and proximity to fishing grounds.
However, local iwi, particularly Ngāti Tama, oppose vehicular access because the area is culturally important and contains many wahi tapu and urupa.
Martin de Ruyter/Staff
Many options have been proposed over the years, but none were acceptable to all parties. (File photo)
An Environment Court hearing before Judge Prudence Stephen began in Nelson on Monday.
The meeting was adjourned until next month so that further information could be sought from Nelson City Council on whether the launch ramp would be included or excluded from several different versions of the council’s planning map.
Judge Stephen said he wanted clarification to understand the full story before passing sentence.
“I’m not a fan of any stone. There may be some light that supports the council’s approach, but at this stage I’m not sure.”
Martin de Ruyter/Staff
Boat launch ramp on Maori Pa Road off Cable Bay Road. Used for boat access to Delaware Bay. (File photo)
Nelson City Council’s solicitor Kelly Anderson said the council’s view was that driving a vehicle into the estuary to launch or retrieve a boat was an unauthorized activity and required resource consent. said.
Years of enforcement efforts by the council have been met with opposition, with Mr Anderson seeking resource consent for the use of the area, building a wooden ramp across the estuary and improving the nearby cable bay launch ramp. He said that many options were considered. and identified Delaware as the official launch stage.
None of these options were considered acceptable to all parties.
“We have found ourselves in this position where there has been a long period of complaints and confusion regarding the use of this area, so in fact Congress is here today to seek clarification on the correct way to interpret the rules.”
Brayden Fuster / Staff
The iwi said the estuary and surrounding land were of great historical and cultural importance and that the area had long been an important place to them. (File photo)
Jamie Ferguson, solicitor for the Ngāti Tama ki te Waipounamu Trust, Wakapuaka 1B Incorporation and Te Huria Matenga wakapuaka Trust, said the Wakapuaka region had long-standing importance to iwi, and the estuary and surrounding land had significant historical and cultural significance. said it was important.
“The Wakapuaka lands, including the estuary, were specially reserved from the mid-19th century purchases by the New Zealand Company and the Crown, and were not established until 1883, when European title to the Wakapuaka mining area was recognized by the Aboriginal Land Court. Tama’s interest in wakapuaka began to decline.
Mr Ferguson said regional planning maps identified various sites at Wakapuaka and that vehicular travel across the estuary was a “long-standing concern” for Ngātitama whānau, who had sought to protect their health and well-being. Stated.
Attorney Nigel McFadden, representing the Delaware Bay Access Group, said the Delaware Bay Access has been in use since at least 1842 and clearly qualifies as an approach ramp, and that Congress has offered no evidence to the contrary. He said he did not.
“It seems to me that when the plan was drawn up, Congress should have identified the locations of the long-established launch pads and included them in the plan, which it appears they did…but then has been removed.”
Public hearings will resume in November.