People urged to have their say on Maungatawa name change proposal

Development under way on Mangatawa Lane. Photo/File

The public are being encouraged to have their say on a proposal to change the geographic name of Maungatawa.

The New Zealand Geographic Board is calling for submissions on the proposal to change the official name to Mangatawa.

In 1976, the board altered two Mangatawa names, for a hill and locality 8km southeast of Mount Maunganui to Maungatawa.

According to the board report about the name correction or alteration, the decision was based on advice from the chief surveyor of Hamilton, and an assumption was made they related to the hill, a "maunga".

Mangatawa-Papamoa Block Incorporation objected to the alteration after the NZ Geographic Board gazetted the change, pointing out that both the hill and the locality were named for the pa Mangatawa.

In 1980 the board corrected the name of the hill, but not the name of the locality.

Because the area is populated, the NZ Geographic Board says it needs to decide whether to process the correction as proposed, or as a corrigendum.

The secretariat's recommendation is to accept a proposal to alter the locality to Mangatawa, based on advice from the Mangatawa-Papamoa Block Incorporation, in order for consistency with the associated official hill name Mangatawa.

Submissions close on November 28.