Tauranga City Council debates whether gifted Māori reserve names should go out for consultation

Tauranga City Council has approved the draft Naming Policy 2019 for consultation. Photo / File

Street names would be limited to 16 characters but reserve names would be limitless under a revised draft naming policy approved for consultation by Tauranga City Council's Policy Committee this week.

In a meeting on Tuesday, elected members also agreed that any proposal to rename an existing reserve, or give it a dual name, should go out for consultation - including where the new name had been gifted by mana whenua.

Council staff had recommended names gifted by mana whenua not be subject to consultation.

Elected members raised the 31-character Te Papa O Ngā Manu Porotakataka, a name gifted by mana whenua for the new urban space on the old Phoenix Carpark in Mount Maunganui, as an example.

A last-minute consultation on that name found most people did not support it, but the council voted to use it anyway.

Councillor Larry Baldock said it had been a "mistake" for the council to consult on that name.

He said naming things was a leadership function and consultation just "made a mess of it". There was a risk councillors would support the majority view rather than doing what was right and potentially removing a name that was offensive to tangata whenua.

"We have to name things, that's what this council does."

Robson said the name was the victim of a poorly managed project, not of one bad consultation.

"We didn't do proper engagement, we just dropped the name on people and associated it with a project that was a cluster bubble."

Consultation was not a referendum, and elected members could vote against the majority view, as he had in supporting the new name.

Councillor Max Mason said some in the community felt a "fear" about Māori names.

"It's the elephant in the room."

He said the council needed to communicate clearly in order to prevent misconceptions and prejudices from taking hold.

The draft policy would also put a stop to the practice of allowing people to make private requests to have street names changed.

The council would still be able to hear submissions from the community on renaming proposals and decide whether or not to follow them up.

The new policy also allowed for both new and existing streets, reserves, facilities and public places to be given dual names in both English and te reo Māori.

There were already examples of this in Tauranga, such as the Gate Pā Domain, also known as Pukehinahina.

Under the draft policy, the Māori name would come before the English name.

Tauranga's longest street name
Te Rua o Korotangi Roadway (26 characters)

Tauranga's longest reserve name
Maxwells Road Esplanade Reserve. This is the same number of characters - 31 - as the controversial Te Papa O Ngā Manu Porotakataka.