Landowners challenge scenic zone proposal

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 17, 17 September 1985, Page 18

Landowners challenge scenic zone proposal

One of the biggest gatherings of local landowners in recent years met at Raetihi last Tuesday to oppose plans for a special scenic zone along the Wanganui River. The landowners, from a big range of Maori incorporations and trusts, were objecting to a proposed change to the Waimarino County district scheme. Eight objectors, supported by more than 20 other Maori landowners, told a county council planning committee hearing they feared the proposed Rural E zone would lead to their losing control of their own land. The zone would restrict clearing and development of land visible from the river upstream from Pipiriki. The landowners would need permission for any farming, forestry or building development, and the county council could set conditions on development. The landowners said they supported the concept of a zone that would preserve the land in its unspoiled state and give river travellers an impression of pristine wilderness. But they wanted the right to administer the zone themselves. on the basis that the land is their heritage and it is their treatment of the land over manv centuries that has created the conditions for a scenic zone. Several objectors spoke of broken agreements in the

past that had led to their losing some land. Whanganui Whare Wananga Trust secretary Patrick O'Sullivan also pointed out that two differing sets of maps of the zone had been circulated since the proposal was first mooted seven years ago. The first had shownaTl the land along the relevant section of the river as part of the zone. The second set of maps, which was said to be the correct set, showed all the Maori land included in the zone, but excluded several pieces of European-owned land. Mr O'Sullivan asked why this had been done. He also questioned the accuracy of one map and drew attention to other alleged irregularities. Two of the three people who appeared in support of the proposed scheme change said they did not know why the European land had been excluded from the zone, and they recommended that it should be included. The two, Mr Craig Mills, of the Ministry of Works and Development, and Mr Brian Dobbil, of the Lands and Survey Department, said the person who had drawn the maps had left the Public Service and could not be contacted. Mr Dobbil skid the boundaries of the zone had been drawn to retain the landscape views on the river, so its borders followed ridge lines

above the river. He said one piece of European land that had been excluded, at Kahura Landing, was in pines and grass. Mr Mills said he understood some of the feelings of the objectors and recommended that the county should meet them again on a marae to discuss the matter more fully. The third supporter of the scheme change was Mr Neil Mercer, general manager of Winstone Afforestation Ltd and Waimarino Forests Ltd, which leases land in the area from the Manganui-a-Te Ao River to Pipiriki. Mr Mercer said the company had originally opposed the Rural E zone in principle because it reduced the use of the land. "But we accept the restrictions, as a good citizen," he said, though he pointed out there would be some loss of

payment fo the Maori owners. County chairman Bruce Berry several times assured objectors that the zoning would not take the land away from them. But Mr Hikaia Amohia, of Taumarunui, asked that representatives of the Maori owners be appointed to administer the zoning controls, instead of havingthem administered by the county council. One objector pointed out that the proposed controls would not allow the Maoris of the area to follow their tradition of building meeting houses with the door and windows facing up the river. After several councillors said they could not make decisions on all the points raised at this stage, Mr Berry proposed a further meeting on a marae. The objectors accepted the offer.