Kelvin Davis to facilitate a hui on Bay or Islands land protest

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis will facilitate a meeting with Ngāpuhi protesters, above, and the new landowners of a proposed housing development in Ōpua.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis will facilitate a meeting between Ngāpuhi protesters occupying private land earmarked for housing development in Ōpua and the new landowners.

A group have been occupying a headland known to local Māori as Puketiti, on Kellet St in Ōpua, for about two weeks. The protesters say the land is wāhi tapu.

The site was also the home of Te Roroa rangatira, Pumuka, who was killed at the battle of Kororāreka in 1845, and the hapū have called for a pou to be established on the site.

In March, Far North Holdings - the commercial arm of Far North District Council - sold the 3ha site to a private developer which intends to build 17 houses.

Locals have set up the group Save Ōpua's Soul (SOS) to protect what they say is one of the last remaining flat pieces of unused land in the area.

Te Roroa hapu spokesman Tony Williams said Davis visited the protesters after the general election and promised to organise a hui.

"The hapu is prepared to take any avenue to make sure the land is returned to us. We're in for the long haul. I said just that to Kelvin and I mean it."

Williams said no one else has spoken to his hapu members since they started the protest but it hasn't deterred them from their fight to reclaim what they say rightfully belonged to them.

Davis said he and Willow-Jean Prime met with the group before the election to hear their concerns, and he called in again last week after they began their protest.

"Obviously, the land in question is currently in private ownership and discussions have been going on at a local level for some time.

"As a local MP, I want to encourage the parties involved to continue to engage constructively and I'm looking to facilitate a hui soon," he said.

Far North Holdings says sovereignty claims by Ngāpuhi protesters, including the most recent one made by the late Sir James Henare, were matters for the Crown to address.

The claim by Sir James Henare calls for control of the whenua to be returned to Ngāpuhi, and for all resource consents from April 1987 to be rescinded.

Far North Holdings said its plans for the land were extensively publicised within the community, and discussed by the community, over a period of many years.

The consented plan is for 17 house sites.

SOS has created a Givealittle page to help pay for its fight to stop the development.