The so-called Craggy Range Track behind Te Mata Peak is still popular with walkers and runners, despite the uncertainty over its future. Video by Duncan Brown.
A "racist one-way tirade", emanating from Havelock North, and plans by a winery to carry on with a controversial walking track on Te Mata peak, have stirred up "lynch mob potential", a Māori leader says.
The comments were made in an open letter to Mary-Jeanne Hutchinson, daughter of CraggyRange owner Terry Peabody, in which Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana pointed out the effects the "ill-conceived" placement of the winery's track was having.
"The track has not only put a scar on our maunga but has driven a chasm in our community that has brought the worst of racist and class comments to the fore - and my people are the targets and dartboards of this racist one-way tirade emanating from Havelock North.
"I've been asked to swallow my pride and let things go, but I have 1000 years of heritage to defend and this can't be washed away by the very recent tsunami of residents with no sense of history.
"A hundred horsemen on mountain bikes are threatening to swoop down Te Mata like a wolf on the fold, waving hundreds of thousands of legal dollars at us so that we should quiver in fear and hide, never to be seen again."
Ngahiwi Tomoana
He added Craggy Range representatives and members of its legal team had treated the iwi "like dumb savages from the wop wops" by "trying to frighten us with legal action".
"We are not intimidated by this behaviour or that of the 'Charge of the Lycra Brigade' who have resorted to personal attacks on our people who don't have the luxury of mountain bikes mounted on the latest SUVs.
"The capacity to mitigate this issue must come from the top.
"It's not about just the track anymore, because the polarisation it has caused is strumming the strings of racial tension of lynch mob potential, watered and fed by your director, barrister and manager whose integrity I have lost faith in.
"If you leave it to your manager, barrister and director to manage then I respectively request that the name 'Ngāti Kahungunu' be melted or removed from the commemorative opening plaque for I do not wish the gall and bile that has built up within the iwi to taint the fabulous wines and food you serve from your facility."
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the council believed there was still potential for common ground to still be reached with all parties.
"We are reviewing the information Craggy Range presented to stakeholders last Monday, and are considering whether we need further information to help devise options that reflect all of the community interests that have been expressed regarding the track."
The zig zag-shaped track on the eastern face of Te Mata Peak was created by Craggy Range Winery, on land it owned opposite the Giants Winery on Waimarama Rd in December, after Hastings District Council granted resource consent.
Although the winery closed the track after an outcry from iwi and opponents, people have continued to use the track.
The winery announced it would close and restore the landscape earlier this month but Craggy Range chief executive Michael Wilding said this turned out to be "not as simple as we or others thought", nor would it achieve an outcome to everyone's satisfaction.
Responding to the letter, Wilding said he was "disappointed" Tomoana has chosen to send his letter to media, and there were some specific aspects of his account that needed correcting.
"Craggy Range has not 'threatened legal action' at all. What we have said is that Craggy Range could itself face legal action from other parties if we attempt to remove the track.
"We've said that should Mana Whenua and Hastings District Council not be able to agree between themselves to any of the remediation solutions put forward by independent experts, then we would have no option but to resort to seeing through the resource consent that was granted by HDC on 17 October 2017, which is still legally binding.
"We made this clear to Ngahiwi and other iwi leaders and Mayor Hazlehurst and council officials last Monday (May 7) when we gave them the details of the legal assessment we've received.
"I refute entirely Ngahiwi's claims that we are fanning racial tensions, when in fact we have done nothing more than put forward a set of open and reasoned arguments for the options that are open for them to decide from."
Mary-Jean Hutchinson responded: "I would always take Ngahiwi's call, so I'll respond to him in person, not through the media."
