Maori Treaty of Waitangi settlement claimants have called on the Crown to halt all land sales by the Whangarei District Council.
The move has the potential to disrupt WDC plans to sell the Old Boys' Rugby Football Club grounds and other sites in the Port Rd area for an estimated $30 million.
The urgent request to halt the sales is made in a report which two Whangarei claimant representatives, Ruiha Collier and Te Raa Nehua, sent to the Waitangi Tribunal presiding officer, Judge Craig Coxhead, before a tribunal judicial conference at Waitangi last Monday.
Mr Nehua yesterday told the Advocate the claimants were waiting for a Crown response to the request. Much of the land the council was offering for sale was under Maori claim, he said.
WDC group manager positive growth, Jude Thompson, said the council had been aware for some time that the land sales block would be sought, but had not yet received a formal request through the Treaty negotiations process.