Waikune land offered to sellers

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 230, 9 February 1988, Page 1

Waikune land offered to sellers

Three blocks of land that were part of Waikune Prison are to be offered for sale to the original owners or their descendants, a Hamilton Ministry of Works and Development spokesperson, M r Bruce Parker, confirmed last week. Who the original owners were will have to be de-

cided by the Maori Land Court, said Mr Parker. The blocks concerned are not part of the prison complex itself but are parcels of land on the Western side of State Highway Four, opposite the prison. They are Waimarino Blocks 4A1A, 4A3, and 4A4. Mr Parker said the land would be offered for sale, at market value, to the original owners or their descendants. He descibed

the land as flat to undulating with some pine and douglas fir plantations as well as some unaltered native forest. The rest of the prison property is likely to be sold on the open market, with Landcorp acting as agents for the Justice Department, according M r Ron Donnelly of the Hamilton office of Landcorp. The MoWD, who researched the aquisition history of the prison land decided that, as the main prison complex land had been significantly altered and developed since its aquisition, it would not be offered to the original owners. This decision is made under Section 40 of the Public Works Act 1981 and allows the land to be gazzetted as surplus crown land. There is one small piece of land which is part of the prison complex that has not yet been cleared for disposal, said Mr Donnelly. He said he expected clearance for this land to come through in the next two weeks and once this happened the prison complex land, apart from the three blocks west of the main road, would be

gazzetted as crown land available for disposal. "Because of the nature of the property and the general public interest in it we (Landcorp) will consult the Justice Department over the disposal," said M r Donnelly. He said meetings with Justice Department officials were to be held last week to discuss a disposal strategy, but a time convienient to all officials concerned could not be set aside. The prison's future has been undecided for the past 16 months, a delay Mr Donnelly partly put down to the task the Ministry of Works and Development Cont'd onp.2

Waikune land offered to sellers

Cont'dfromfront page were asigned. "The Ministry had a fair bit of research to do," he said," the prison land was acquired over a long period of time." Mr Donnelly said Landcorp had received many enquiries concerning the prison from organisations, companies and individuals. "They haven't been able to come up with any concrete proposals because what exactly is on offcr is uncertain," he said.

The interest shown has taken different forms, said Mr Donnelly. He said there were proposals to buy just the houses, just the prison buildings, just the land, to buy parts of the complex including buildings and land, and to buy the whole complex. Mr Donnelly said there had been no proposals put to Landcorp by Maori groups to buy the prison complex. Thc Taumarunui Res6arch and Dcvelopment Committce has asked governmcnt about re-opening the prison as an ACCESS training and Maori studies centre, but Mr Donnelly said there has been no approach to Landcorp concerning such a proposal. He said he did not know of any behind-the-scenes negotiations concerning Maori use of the prison. Mr Donnelly said the present Maori Council injunction preventing the transfer of crown land to state owned enterprises does not affect the sale of surplus land and unless there is a specific claim on the Wiakune land bcfore the Waitangi tribunal the sale can go ahead. "To my knowledge there are no injunctions or no suggestions of injunctions on the Waikune Prison land," said Mr Donnelly. The replies Landcorp has received concerning pro-

posals are mainly from Auckland business groups though others have come from community groups and businesses from other parts of the North Island. Waikune prison covers a total of 211 hectares of mainly native forest and pine plantations. Accomodation facilities include a village of 24 houses, fully functional water and sewer-

age services, and a substantial number o f accomodation, service and recreational buildings. There has been speculation in the media and with some National Park residents that the Justice Department considering reopening the prison in the light of the overcrowding in prisons around the country, but the department has not confirmed this.