EMERGENCY HOUSING? The site of the former Arataki Holiday Park was being looked at for emergency housing in the Bay by the Ministry of Social Development. PHOTO FILE
EMERGENCY HOUSING? The site of the former Arataki Holiday Park was being looked at for emergency housing in the Bay by the Ministry of Social Development. PHOTO FILE
The discovery that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) was investigating the possibility of turning the Arataki Motor Camp in Havelock North into emergency housing, which it has subsequently decided against, has residents concerned about the lack of consultation over the future of the site.
In September last year theMinistry of Education decided against relocating Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu to the campground after an environmental evaluation found the site was unsuitable for any school, because of site contamination and air quality concerns.
Ministry of Education associate deputy secretary education infrastructure service Jerome Sheppard said this week that the ministry was currently undertaking pre-disposal work on the Arataki site before a formal disposal process later this year.
The ministry also confirmed that it was currently in negotiations to secure a site for Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, understood to be in the Hastings area.
In the meantime, the MSD had been working with other agencies, providers and local communities to explore options to increase the number of emergency housing places available across the country, including Hawke's Bay.
"Recently we have been working with Housing New Zealand and the local council to determine whether the Arataki site could be re-purposed as emergency housing," said MSD East Coast regional commissioner Annie Aranui.
"After conducting our due diligence it became apparent that the cost and time involved in securing consent and remediating the site to bring it up to the required standard meant this was not a feasible option."
Tukituki Labour candidate Anna Lorck had been working closely with residents to address the schooling needs in Havelock North and said they only discovered that the MSD was investigating the site when they rang to get an update on progress.
They learned that in January this year a property advisor acting on behalf of the MSD had been making inquiries with the Hastings District Council about the district plan and resource consent requirements to set up temporary emergency accommodation at the site, which the Ministry of Education bought in 2009 and earmarked for a primary school to cater for the suburb's growing population.
Ms Lorck said the information made residents question the lack of consultation with the community.
"Why is all this happening behind the scenes when surely the government would have learned its lesson over the education crisis?" she asked.
Although a strong advocate for emergency and social housing, she said any disposal plans for land promised for a school to meet Havelock North's local education needs should be put on hold and reviewed in consultation with the Havelock North community.
"I'm not convinced that the mushroom odour is going to continue being a legitimate reason to dispose of this land for much longer.
"I think we owe it to parents, families and local residents to discuss this first before making a final decision. If they are happy to wait for the odour to be resolved, if it means keeping the land for a promised school then we should."
About 30 residents met last night and unanimously agreed to call for a hold on the disposal of the land until there had been consultation, to call for an independent report into the contamination and odour at the camping ground site, and to ask the Ministry of Education to renew the land's status for education use when this expired at the end of May this year.
