Update from Mike, Lorraine and Theo

Silna Newsletter August 2019

Update

We must apologise for the lack of communication over the past few months, but as you can all appreciate, we all have day jobs.

That said, there has been a lot of activity as detailed below:

Access

In March the working group Mike, Theo & Lorraine, met with Queenstown District Council (QLDC) to discuss the upcoming environment court hearing regarding the rezoning application, to be heard early June. This meeting was to impart the working groups thinking and to advise QLDC of the working groups intentions and ask for their support. QLDC has not committed to support our intentions without resolution of the access to the land. A letter of support from Te Arawhiti, formerly Office of Treaty Settlement, has been provided to QLDC outlining their position. Subsequently we have had the court hearing deferred until December 2019 or January 2020.

Neighbouring Land Owners

In previous correspondence we advised that we intended to make contact with adjacent land owners.

We have been in contact with all owners and there is little interest in discussing access options.

Process

Te Arawhiti, formerly Office of Treaty Settlement, have provided a timeline of their work to date. They are:

• Work on the successor list- finalising this list is a large piece of work

• Representation- identify a group of successors to consult with on issues to do with the land.

• Contact database- ensure the successor list has current contact details to enable communication to all beneficiaries. Part of this communication is contacting those likely to be eligible to succeed explaining the successor process.

Ngai Tahu Property

Ngai Tahu Property,(NTP) a division of Ngai Tahu Holding, was formerly approached by Mike Beresford to bring to their attention the background of SILNA and the resulting loss of access to our Hawea/Wanaka block for which Ngai Tahu Property was involved.

By no means are we suggesting there was technical wrong doing by NTP but the subdivision of land that NTP acquired through an ancillary claim via the settlement relating to SILNA land resulted in the Hawea/Wanaka block being land locked.

NTP during the subdivision consent process new the history around how the property came to be under their ownership and therefore should have been mindful of the affects of the neighboring property owned by Ngai Tahu whanau.

NTP Chief Executive David Kennedy has indicated he will address the access issue with QLDC when he is next in Queenstown which is expected to be during this month.

To gain a higher level of support from Ngai Tahu, please can I ask you contact you local TRONT rep because this issue needs addressing at higher level.

Here is the link to your Te Runanga O Ngai Tahu representatives.

https://ngaitahu.iwi.nz/te-runanga-o-ngai-tahu/representatives/