Maori claims stop local school sales

Maori claims on two abandoned Masterton schools worth more than $3 million has sparked their withdrawal from the market only weeks after the sale signs went up.
Tenders were called for Totara Drive and Harley Street schools in October when the abandoned sites and buildings hit the open market although the sites have been since land-banked along with the Lansdowne School property.
L.J. Hooker Masterton manager David McHattie said at the time tenders would close in November and reported brisk interest in the schools that were closed at the merger of Masterton primary schools in 2004.
According to the Masterton District Council website, the rateable value for Totara Drive School with improvements and 1.8ha of land is set at $1.9 million and Harley Street School with improvements and 1.8ha of land is set at $1.3 million. Both properties are in residential zones.
Iain Butler, Ministry of Education senior media adviser, said both schools had been through a Crown property clearance process called the Protection Mechanism, which is run by the Office of Treaty Settlements.
"The decision was made to release both properties for open market sale, which was duly got under way," he said. "However, applicants under the Protection Mechanism had provided the Office of Treaty Settlement with new information that prompted them to reassess their decision to release the properties.
"The properties were withdrawn from sale while this reassessment is being carried out," he said.
The new information will be examined by an Officials Committee, Mr Butler said, which is made up of government members "with an interest in this process", to reach a recommendation as to whether the property is to be released or to be land-banked by OTS.
This recommendation is presented to a Cabinet committee of ministers to make the decision, he said, and a decision is expected in April on the two schools.
Office of Treaty Settlements director Paul James said yesterday applications to land bank the two properties pending a reassessment were received from Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa iwi authority and Rangitane O Wairarapa iwi authority.
"New and quite substantial historical information was received regarding the properties and this will be verified and a decision made on the next step," he said.
Harley Street and Totara Drive schools entered the open market stage of disposal in July after Harley Street and Masterton Central schools merged on the Masterton Central site and became Masterton Primary School, and Lansdowne and Totara Drive schools merged with Hiona Intermediate School and were renamed Lakeview School.
The Masterton mergers reduced the number of urban schools in the district from nine to five amid considerable community protest and anguish, with Harley Street school vandalised and targeted by arsonists and the school hall burning to the ground last year.
Vandals and firebugs have also hit disused buildings at Lansdowne School since the mergers, with an historic structure lost to flames in 2004 and two classrooms torched this year.
Lansdowne School is being dismantled in several phases of disposal, with the hall removed to Gladstone School and Masterton District Council set to use some of the Lansdowne site for roading.
Mike Kawana, Rangitaane O Wairarapa cultural adviser and Ngati Hamua spokesman, told the Times-Age last year the Lansdowne School site is part of a multi-million dollar Maori land claim.
Also in various stages of disposal in Wairarapa are Te Kura Kaupapa o Wairarapa and Cornwall Street School in Masterton, which are listed as protected, as is South Featherston School; with Okautete School at Homewood, Bideford School, Greytown School, Pahiatua School, and Tinui School all being offered back to the successors of the original owners.