Whanganui District Council and Land Settlement Trust negotiate agreement

Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust chairman Ken Mair spoke at the trust's first mandate hui in January 2017. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui District Council and the Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust are drafting a relationship agreement between them - but it is confidential.

Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall and Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust (WLSNT) chairman Ken Mair both say the draft is at an early stage.

The council already has relationship agreements with Tupoho, TamaUpoko and Ngā Paerangi, McDouall said, so an agreement with WLSNT is logical.

Neither man would say what the agreement might contain.

"If we get it across the line it's only right that our iwi and hapū have a look at it first," Mair said.

McDouall said he wouldn't want the public to "get the jump on elected officials". The agreement will be put in front of the full council before it is signed.

The WLSNT signed Te Tomokanga ki te Matapihi, an agreement in principle with the Crown, on August 30, 2019 at Putiki Marae. At that time some of the main points of a future Whanganui land settlement were laid out.

They only touch on the council in a few places, McDouall said.

One point is that the only correct spelling of Whanganui is with the "H", though Mair said later that he didn't expect legislation to change that instantly.

The sum of $30 million was spoken of, and the vesting of pieces of land important to iwi.

These include Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens and 128ha of grazing land on Airport Rd.

There could also be co-management arrangements for Pukenamu/Queen's Park and coastal lakes.

But it was a reset of relationships with the council and Crown that was most important to the WLSNT, with a possible three-party social provider that includes whatever post-settlement governance entity is created and government agencies.

The next stage in the land settlement process will be initialling a deed of settlement which Mair hopes will have happened by March 2022.

"It's all taking quite a long time. For some of us we knew it would take us a bit of time," he said.