Joint Napier plan for care of Ahuriri Estuary

A view of Ahuriri Estuary from Mataruahou, the Bluff and Hospital hills. Photo / Warren Buckland

Napier City Council has signalled a move towards co-governance of significant sites in Hawke's Bay with establishment of an Ahuriri Regional Park committee including 50/50 representation of Treaty settlement entity Mana Ahuriri Trust.

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council will also be represented on the committee, the terms of reference for which were approved by the council yesterday, with the councils each having two representatives, joined by four from Mana Ahuriri.

Shared governance was provided for in the enactment of the Ahuriri Hapū claims settlement last December, with issues of the Crown's failures to protect the area a feature of the evidence.

The city council says it's also a big step for climate resilience as it looks to protect the "taonga" that is the Ahuriri Estuary, otherwise known as Te Whanganu-a-Orotu, from the once much more expansive inland waterway from which much of Napier emerged via a series of reclamations and the 1931 Hawke's Bay Earthquake.

The council says the joint committee is key to promoting the protection and enhancement of the estuary's environmental, economic, social, spiritual, historical and cultural values.

Deputy mayor Annette Brosnan said "a number of options" were considered before deciding on a joint committee, with an equal partnership meaning a commitment to work together to address the estuary environment's stormwater and environmental degradation issues.

"This may be a new approach but it is one that I am confident embodies the principals of partnership, participation and protection in Te Tiriti o Waitangi," she said. "Co-governance with HBRC and Mana Ahuriri Trust is a commitment to working together from the very outset and at all levels."

Mana Ahuriri Trust chairwoman Tania Eden and her board say they are pleased to join the councils in the historic partnership to begin the restoration of Ahuriri Regional Park and Te Muriwai o te Whanga.

Hawke's Bay Regional councillor Hinewai Ormsby said it marks a change in acknowledging a truly collaborative relationship with Napier City Council and the Mana Ahuriri Trust in "striving for improved health and wellbeing of our taonga Te Whanganui ā Orotū".

"This is us putting our hands up to say 'our collective contribution now, will benefit our future generations to come'," she said.