Families who have farmed in South Canterbury for generations are objecting to the Timaru District Council’s handling of proposed Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori (SASM) and fear restrictions will follow.
Federated Farmers have called the council’s approach “heavy-handed”.
In October, the Timaru District Council sent letters to the first of 4000 property owners in the district who would be impacted by the new regulations stating the land fitted into five differing categories: Wāhi Tūpuna (broad geographical areas/cultural landscapes), wāhi taoka (land-based places), wāhi tapu (sacred land-based sites), wai taoka (waterways based places) and wai tapu (sacred sites/areas water based).
The council said it had worked with the local rūnanga, Arowhenua, to identify SASM while the rūnanga used information from historic maps, oral histories and document archives to identify areas.
Stuff asked the council a range of questions: What was the methodology used in identifying sites? Were visits made to the sites? Were landowners consulted, and if so, what was the process? Why, in one case, was 100% of private land designated a SASM, with no pinpointed location of significance?
“We’re in the middle of a statutory process with the Proposed District Plan, so it’s not really appropriate for us to comment in detail,” the council’s communications manager Stephen Doran said.
“These sites were consulted upon under the Draft District Plan and before the notified plan came out. Everyone who has properties that featured a site of significance to Māori was written to, offered the ability to talk to an adviser about the details of the provisions, and actively encouraged to make a submission.
“We are currently in a statutory consultation process with regards to district plan matters, and it would not be appropriate for council to comment further and risk any undue influence to this process.”