Agreement would involve iwi in planning process

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

AN HISTORIC agreement that would give Ngati Porou the power to become involved in the management of the Waiapu catchment — a first for Maori and the local authority in this district — will be considered by Gisborne District Council on Thursday.

Staff are recommending the council prepare a joint management agreement for the Waiapu catchment that would allow iwi to be involved in Resource Management Act processes within the catchment.

The agreement would see the runanganui involved in a number of planning processes.

A delegation from Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou will be present at the meeting. It will also include notification of the freshwater plan for the district, another process on which the runanganui wants to have an active role.

The iwi has held a series of hui on the freshwater plan, the most recent of them at the weekend.

Both subjects are expected to provoke discussion. Councillor and Gisborne Herald columnist Craig Bauld describes this as possibly the most pivotal meeting he has seen in his time on the council.

Strategic planning manager David Wilson told the council in a report that a joint management agreement would cover RMA processes such as the development of the Waiapu catchment plan, plan changes and private plan changes within the catchment, the resource consent process within the catchment and representation on notified resource consent hearings within the catchment.

The latter provision is subject to technical capability and it is expected that commissioners will have undertaken a Making Good Decisions course.

Mr Wilson said as this was the first JMA instigated under the RMA between council and iwi it represented an important step for collaboration and proactive relationships into the future with the runanganui on behalf of Ngati Porou hapu.

The council has been developing the freshwater plan and Waiapu Catchment plan over the past five years.

Mr Wilson said Section 36B of the resource Management Act has established the opportunity for local authorities to jointly perform or exercise any of the local authority’s functions, powers or duties under the Resource Manage Act.

Craig Bauld says in his column today that most New Zealanders do not yet realise that the Government has negotiated away the democratic control of land and resources but even when they wake up it will be too late.

But he adds an optimistic note saying that it was not that hard working with Maori as they were working towards the same end as Pakeha.

The recommendation before the council is for staff to develop a joint management agreement for the Catchment with a draft report to go before the Future Tairawhiti Committee in September with the council approving the JMA at its October meeting.