Ngāti Pareraukawa sees Levin landfill agreement as giant leap forward

Protest against the Levin Landfill have been ongoing for years. This was part of a 2016 protest.

"We wanted action now," said Rachael Selby, chair of Pareraukawa Marae about the agreement community groups made with Horowhenua District Council to clean-up and closure the Levin landfill by the end of 2025. It has the support for the Raukawa Rūnanga.

She said the hāpu has been opposed to the landfill for the past 50 years and has protested against it for as long.

Ngāti Pareraukawa has been at the forefront of a 50-year struggle to stop the dumping of waste near the Hokio Beach and adjacent to the Hokio Stream, which drains Lake Horowhenua.

This has involved years of participation in hearings, efforts to change regional plans, involvement of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and most recently legal action to hold the district and regional councils to account.

"We were unhappy with the outcome from a commission in 2016 and decided to go to the Environment Court. With a date set for a hearing there we entered into negotiations with the council in October last year and believe the resulting agreement is preferably to an Environment Court case, which would not achieve what we want - that is closure of the landfill," she said.

Ngāti Raukawa supports its hapū through the recent negotiations to see the Levin landfill closed at least 12 years earlier than Horowhenua District Council was planning.

In late 2018 Ngāti Pareraukawa, HDC and a number of other community groups agreed to find a different way to get through the challenge ahead of managing the landfill to its closure and addressing the effects on the environment and cultural values of tangata whenua.

Nearly six months of negotiations have led to a landmark agreement, which will see the Levin landfill closed by 2025 or earlier, will stop the discharge of leachate to the Hokio Stream, and which actively recognises the role of Raukawa and its hapū in management of the whenua and awa of the district.

For Rachael Selby, who has led the discussions for the agreement, the proof will be in the pudding.

"There have been many setbacks over the decades where local hapū thought agreement had been reached, only to be let down. The impacts of the landfill on air quality and the state of the Hokio Stream are well documented and there is no excuse for this to continue.

"With the agreement we now have, it's clear the hapū will have a specific role in appointing the right people to assess the landfill for closure and sit alongside the district council to see it happen".

"We are not sure what the experts will find in terms of the effects on the environment of the landfill, which will be there for a long time. We want better management as well as a clean-up, which will cost tens of millions. The council is going to need financial assistance from the government to clean this up.

"If we work together and focus on the goals of closure and clean-up we can achieve this in the lifetime of some of us, at least."

"We will be here forever and believe this agreement makes this dream achievable. I am optimistic that this will be achieved.

"I have lived here for 40 years and find the whole situation around the landfill disheartening. It has taken at least 40 years of protesting for something to happen.

Jessica Kereama, Pou Taiao of the Raukawa Rūnanga, acknowledges that the agreement reflecting the needs of the hapū and key community organisations is the beginning of the end of what has been a festering sore for the people of Horowhenua.

"It's only through the commitment of the community and coming to the table that issues this important get resolved. That our people have had to resort to court action has been a tough road for our hapū communities. I recognise the enormous effort of the hapū and congratulate the team at HDC for their efforts in finding a way forward."