Kāpiti Coast District Council has unanimously voted to adopt Plan Change 3 to restore recognition of Kārewarewa urupā as wāhi tapu in the District Plan and provide protection from inappropriate subdivision, use and development.
The decision recognises the deep spiritual and cultural significance of the urupā to tangata whenua, and the intergenerational trauma caused by its desecration.
Mayor Janet Holborow says the decision to adopt Plan Change 3 reflects the mana of the wāhi tapu site and corrects the wrongful mistakes of the past.
“Kārewarewa urupā is a place of significant spiritual and cultural value to tangata whenua. The land now has the respect it deserves and cannot be desecrated any more.
“Te Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai are the rightful kaitiaki of the site and Council will work closely with them to ensure the future of the land reflects this decision,” the Mayor said.
Kāpiti Coast Māori Ward Councillor Himiona Grace acknowledged the significance of the decision to protect the urupā from future development and spoke of the intergenerational trauma caused by the destruction of the urupā.
“I am proud to be part of council’s decision to protect Kārewarewa urupā; not only as councillor but as a descendent of Metapere Te Waipunaahau who is buried there.
“Kārewarewa is the resting place of many who died at the Battle of Kūititanga in 1839, as well as Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi, one of the five wahine who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These tupuna have rested without peace since the initial desecration of our cemetery in the 1970s,” Cr Grace said.
“I acknowledge Te Āti Awa me Ngāti Awa ki Kāpiti for their perseverance and fierce defence of our whakapapa over generations, and Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga & Ngāti Toa for standing beside us over the years.
“Through our shared history Kārewarewa belongs to all of our tupuna.”
Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai resource management expert Dr. Mahina-a-rangi Baker said this has been an intergenerational fight to respect the basic human decency of mana whenua and recognise our long-standing presence in this land.
“The proactive decision by Kāpiti Coast District Council to return appropriate protections to the land demonstrates that our communities are capable of reckoning with very challenging histories, and can engage in processes that create healing, reconciliation, and restore mana to the kāwanatanga,” Dr. Baker said. “This should give us all hope for what we are capable of in Aotearoa.”
In 1919, the land containing Kārewarewa urupā was partitioned from a larger block of Māori freehold land. A developer acquired the block in 1969, and part of it was subsequently developed for housing.
Plan Change 3 follows a High Court judicial review decision that set aside the incorporation of Kārewarewa urupā into the District Plan through Plan Change 2. The Court determined that the urupā could instead be incorporated into the District Plan through a proposed plan change undertaken in accordance with the standard Schedule 1 process under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).
Following submissions and a hearing, an Independent Hearings Panel recommended that the proposed provisions were the most appropriate way to recognise and provide for Kārewarewa urupā within the District Plan. Council accepted the Panel’s recommendation.
Plan Change 3 adds the urupā to Schedule 9 of the Operative Kāpiti Coast District Plan as a Site and Area of Significance to Māori. Council will publicly notify when Plan Change 3 becomes operative in accordance with Schedule 1 of the RMA, once the appeals period has expired.