Court limits work at historic site

The Environment Court has stopped part of a $160 million development near Tauranga, ruling that building is banned on a site of historic, cultural and archaeological importance.

But the developers are still allowed to go ahead with their 28ha development of the wider area, which the court said would destroy other parts of the land.

Developers Papamoa Junction went to court to oppose the Historic Places Trust's refusal to allow it to destroy part of an archaeological site.

The 7300sq m plot is part of the 28ha, $160 million Papamoa Junction project, under construction and about to bring a new town centre to the area, including shops, apartments, a technology park and offices.

The larger area is the site of ancient occupation, where one Maori tribe drove out another. The court found the site to be "of deep cultural significance to the tangata whenua" and sacred.

The developer has been banned from building on the 7300sq m block of land which the trust defended from development because it was a registered archaeological site.

The developers called Dr Douglas Sutton, professor of archaeology at Auckland University, who said a midden on the land was 15m by 25m, unlikely to contain unique evidence and comprised less than 1 per cent of the area of the archaeological site.

But the trust called two other archaeologists, who spoke of the site's local, regional and national significance and said it was the most significant remnant of the archaeological landscape between Mt Maunganui and the Kaituna River.

Developer Andrew Ling of Papamoa Junction was disappointed with the decision.

"The solution the court has come down with is not dissimilar to what we offered to the trust a year ago, when we said we would set aside part of the land incorporating the midden, as long as we could have the rest," he said.

He complained that the sale of two smaller lots was also potentially jeopardised by the ruling but said he hoped the Crown would buy the contentious block of land for about $2 million.

Papamoa Dune ridge

* Shell midden remains and soil showing evidence of Maori cultivation point to ancient occupations.

* The battle of Te Tumu in 1836 resulted in Te Arawa tribes driving Ngaiterangi out of the Maketu area.

* Killing and cannibalistic rites involving Ngaiterangi chief Hikareia took place in the area.

* Historic Places Trust won the Environment Court case to stop one site being developed but the court said the wider area to be destroyed.