Te Ururoa Flavell seeks return of Rotorua reserve land to whānau

Karl Leonard and Dr Te Ururoa Flavell outside Rotorua Lakes Council chambers holding a decades-old picture of whānau. Photo / Laura Smith

Former politician Te Ururoa Flavell is among members of a Rotorua whānau asking the council to return a section of surplus reserve land.

He and cousin Karl Leonard spoke on Monday at a Rotorua Lakes Council hearing on the proposed land disposal of an 810m² section of surplus reserve in Ngongotahā.

The origins of how the council came to own the land were initially unclear, but a council report found it was originally vested in their grandmother Ranginui Whakaue Hikairo in 1955 and subdivided into sections for whānau.

The Ranginui St section the council may dispose of was later vested in her son Pakeke Heketoro Leonard to on-vest to the council as a reserve.

It is opposite a larger utility reserve which gives public access to the lake.

Public consultation ran from February 7 to March 10 and Flavell and Leonard were among submitters and the only two to speak at the hearing.

Flavell said while it was a little piece of land, “insignificant in one sense”, it was hugely significant to whānau.

He called it “heartstring stuff” relating to land and legacy.

Much of the land surrounding the section is owned by whānau.

The section of council land up for disposal is between 21 and 23 Ranginui St. Photo / Google Maps

Flavell’s submission explained the land was part of the whānau farm owned by his kui Ranginui and koro Heketoro Leonard.

He wrote how he used to play there, chasing cows and sheep when it was a paddock.

He understood his grandparents' farm was subdivided in the late 1950s for whānau and his uncle Pakeke transferred the section to the council in 1962.

The why was less clear.

Karl Leonard and Dr Te Ururoa Flavell outside Rotorua Lakes Council chambers holding a decades-old picture of whānau. Photo / Laura Smith

He did not believe it was under the Public Works Act.

No reserve contribution obligation existed for Māori Freehold Land at that time.

Flavell told councillors his grandparents and uncle were well-known Rotorua figures.

Pakeke was the first Rotorua Māori Arts & Crafts Institute director and was deputy mayor, and Flavell believed the family had the town’s best interests in mind and that the section was to be used by its people, for community benefit.

Flavell said he lived next door and had not seen the section used by anyone but family - he did not think the wider public knew its use as it looked like a private vacant plot.

“We think it’s appropriate it comes back to our whānau.”

Karl Leonard believed his uncle foresaw the land being taken off him at some point, and so preferred to give it on his own terms.

“It’s not by chance, it’s not by force, but simply ‘I’ll give it over on my own mana'.”

The context he gave for why there was little documentation was that his uncle was “the end of that era of chiefs”.

“‘My word, what I say, I will make it happen’. And they were good for their word.”

Leonard said family ties were important.

“If there is an opportunity for the land to be returned our whānau would really support that.”

A decision on what happens to the land will be made at a future council meeting.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.