Te Whanau-a-Apanui elated as Ōpōtiki District Council returns reserve land, access issue must be resolved

The council's decision on the land drew one of the biggest crowds ever to a council meeting. Photo / Charlotte Jones

Bach owners on East Coast land being returned to iwi under Treaty of Waitangi settlement can continue to use an illegal road to get to their homes while the council works to solve the access issues.

Te Whanau-a-Apanui was elated and celebrated with applause and waiata as Ōpōtiki District Council voted to return reserve land into iwi management on Tuesday.

Iwi spokesman and councillor Louis Rapihana said there was "a lot of shock" when Ōpōtiki mayor Lyn Riesterer announced the decision.

"The iwi is astounded and they can't stop jumping for joy that the council has agreed to return reserves that were taken off them many years ago.

"It's huge and everyone is so blown away."

Rapihana declared a conflict of interest in the matter and did not vote or speak at the meeting.

The decision came with a compromise. Ownership of the reserve land that provides the only access to Whanarua Bay, will pass to iwi after a joint management board resolves how bach owners can legally access their properties.

The council has given a timeframe of up to five years for this to happen.

Whanarua Bay property owners and hundreds of holidaymakers access the bay via a tarsealed road, which cuts across reserve land. Access to the bay was never formalised when it was subdivided. Bach owners constructed and maintain the road.

Rapihana said the compromise wasn't much of a compromise for iwi as Te Whanau-a-Apanui had always wanted the access issues resolved.

He believes having a dedicated group will ensure a solution is found sooner, rather than having bach owners continue in limbo.

"I've always said to them that we must rectify the first wrong here, which was to iwi, and then we can find a solution for the wrongdoings after that," Rapihana said.

"After the meeting quite a few of the bach owners came up to me and they were quite relieved a solution will be found. They said they look forward to working with the iwi and council."

Bach owner Peter Martelletti said he had mixed feelings about council's decision and wasn't confident council would manage to sort out the access issues within five years.

"I don't have a lot of faith as they have had probably over 40 years to sort this out with no real progress.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens."

Martelletti said he hoped the joint management group would include bach owner representatives. It was evident at the meeting that councillors were concerned about the rights of bach owners to access their properties and it wasn't clear until the end how councillors were going to vote.

Councillor Barry Howe felt the wording in the report wasn't strong enough to ensure continued access to the bay.

"I don't think it should be gifted back until public access has been resolved.

"It's a little cloudy to me. I like things to be black and white."

Deputy mayor Shona Browne said ensuring access was a big issue for her too.

"This is a historic problem that has landed on our laps because of the Crown.

"In my past life I was a real estate agent, and I would never have sold a property with dodgy access issues. In my opinion we cannot proceed until access is formalised."

Councillor David Moore said he agreed with this.

Riesterer then adjourned the public meeting and councillors left the room to discuss the issue in private. When they re-emerged, some 10 minutes later Riesterer announced they had re-worded their resolution to include that the joint management board would focus on resolving the access issues.

The re-wording made what was implicit in the first resolution, explicit.

All councillors then voted in favour of returning the land.

"May we look forward to an enduring resolution that every group can be satisfied with," Riesterer said.