Federated Farmers allays fears over Maori consultation in Northland

Northland Federated Farmers is calling for calm over a rule forcing landowners north of Whangarei to consult Maori when applying for resource consents for so-called sacred sites.

The organisation's operations director, Bill Guest, came away from a meeting with Whangarei Mayor Craig Brown saying the new rule was "not as bad" as he first thought.

The rule, believed to affect about 700 rural landowners in rural Kamo, Pipiwai and Hikurangi, was the result of an agreement reached by the council and Ngararatunua Marae.

In the agreement, endorsed by the Environment Court, the council said it would ensure that consultation with Ngararatunua Marae occurred on "all resource consent applications (subdivision and land use)" which would each require an archaeological, cultural and historical assessment report.

The marae committee has agreed it will "commit itself to this procedure as an interim measure" until specific significant sites are identified and included in the council's district plan.

The agreement has received widespread criticism. Whangarei MP Phil Heatley said it "smacked of political correctness" and Mr Brown said the council was "forced" to "lay extra red tape".

Whangarei councillor Crichton Christie said he believed the council should have let the Environment Court decide the issue, rather than agree to a plan change that could take years.

Mr Guest said that when he first heard about the rule he wanted to know "what the hell's going on".

But having read the ruling and spoken with Mr Brown he was "cautiously optimistic".

He said the change would affect developers wanting to subdivide, not farmers doing normal farm work.

"My first fear was that this is just another money-grabbing exercise by Maori and it's going to hold up development," he said.

"But this is not as bad as we first thought."

Northland Federated Farmers members would receive a summary of the Environment Court ruling next week, something he said would "allay a lot of fears".

However, he would monitor the issue "very, very closely", particularly when it came to fees charged for cultural assessments and the time it took the marae to identify sites of significance.

The issue

* Farmers north of Whangarei have to consult local Maori before they can develop their land.

* The Environment Court ruling will apply to hundreds of properties until wahi tapu (sacred sites) are identified.

* Federated Farmers says it believes the rule will affect subdivisions but not normal farm work.

- NZPA