Te Mahere Whenua Mātua o Te Rewarewa
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Land Use and Development Plan
Since the felling of the forestry in Summer 2012 it has been clear a new direction was needed for the committee of management.
On the 1st March & 14th April 2012 the management committee & shareholders work-shopped a PATH (planning alternative tomorrows with hope) strategic plan for Te Rewarewa with Te Rūnanga a Iwi o Ngāpuhi hapū development kaimahi Mariao Hohaia.
Six goals were outlined for the management committee to focus on over the four years, including the development of a ‘Whenua Concept Plan.’
strategic goals of te rewarewa committee of management
The below goals for the whenua were established in 2014 and guide the committee of management in it’s mahi:
Studies into feasibility of 6 projects have been carried out
Mapping ability and GIS database in use by RRD
Sites of significance identified and mapped
Whenua development proposals prepared based on the above studies
Since 2014, Te Rewarewa has received $60,000 investment from Te Puni Kōkiri to initiate our ‘Whenua Concept Plan Project’.
During To complete this project, a number of activities were undertaken by the Committee of Management, together with shareholders and whānau, including workshops, site visits, and wānanga. The information gathered through research and wānanga has been used to develop the whenua concept plan, which will be a taonga for our shareholders and will guide the development activities of the management komiti over the years to come.
CLICK IMAGE ABOVE to see Te Mahere Whenua Matua o Te Rewarewa: Update on activities January 2019 - June 2020
CLICK IMAGE ABOVE to see Te Mahere Whenua Matua o Te Rewarewa Version 1: Published 2018
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Land development Projects
Te Papakāinga o Te Rewarewa
With Te Puni Kōkiri investment, a Papakāinga Development Plan has been started. The consultant team has been overseen by Rewarewa D Management Committee and Nicki Wakefield as the contract manager to achieve the following since the start of 2019:
Kaupapa wānanga with Rewarewa D Shareholder
Technical feasibility reports, engineer, geotechnical and traffic engineer
Grow internal capability. Project management, Governance, Administration
Housing preliminary designs prepared and costed
Financial Model for papakāinga housing
Tenure options identified
Landscape Design and Papakāinga zone masterplanning to include marae location options, housing, campground, gardens and orchards, communal whare and shared areas as part of the kāinga zone.
Other key considerations were for drinking water supply and wastewater treatment and the goal to re-open the Toetoe road access which was the former access to the kāinga up until the 1960’s when it was last occupied.
Three location options for marae were identified, and an area for whānau campground.
With the near completion of Te Papakāinga o Te Rewarewa development plan, the committee of management turns its attention to lodging the papakāinga development plan and resource consents with Whangārei District and Northland Regional Councils later in 2020. Following consents being confirmed, further investment would be sought from Te Puni Kōkiri for detailed design of the roading, infrastructure and stage one housing, which may include exploring alternative approaches to housing plans.
Financial model and tenure arrangements are yet to be confirmed for housing, along with how the papakāinga would be managed into the future to align with Te Rewarewa values.
Clearing a site for whānau campground can begin as well as removing trees from the future internal private roadways seen in the masterplan and we look forward to hosting working bees on the whenua in the near future. A similar preliminary design process for marae can also proceed in the coming years along with preparing a charter for marae.
Te Papa Ohaoha o te Rewarewa - Light Industrial precinct
Historically, our tupuna identified this area as a potential commercial development in the 1970’s and excluded it from the forestry which was planted in the late 1970’s. There have been several unsolicited expressions of interest made by local businesses and developers over the recent years, further indicating that it would not be difficult to identify tenants.
Shareholders have expressed interest in generating income from their interests in Te Rewarewa, in a variety of ways including dividends, business opportunities and work opportunities. The Committee of Management are currently exploring a range of options for the development of this area.
The committee of management have progressed a zone change for the area alongside Kioreroa Road with the Whangārei District Council’s Urban and Services Plan Change. This will create a “Te Rewarewa Precinct” that will enable a wider range of activities in this area which are not permitted under the current council zoning. These include a number of land uses listed as aspirations in our 2018 Whenua Land Use Plan below:
retail
commercial
kai production
education facilities
manufacturing
This planned zone change is another step towards our long term economic development goals and the committee plan to start discussions with whānau and shareholders in the coming year to guide the ideas into reality.
The committee of management also look forward to holding wānanga on uses for Te Papa Ohaoha o Te Rewarewa area to expand on the māra kai already on site over 2021.
MāRA KAI
The Māra Kai was established in November 2018 with the vision to reconnect people to the land, provide healthy kai to whānau and explore sustaining livelihoods for whānau.
The site is located on the roadside flats next to the Resort Station formerly used for green waste composting. We have cleared approximately one acre of pest plants from the area and established a māra with a focus on heritage kai including kamokamo, kokihi, kumara, taewa, ruruhau, and puha with an increasing number of native plants we are propagating from the land for the landscape restoration project. Over the past year we have held numerous workshops on medicine and māra, full moon planting events and always enjoy meeting more Te Rewarewa whānau during these events.
We mentor young farmers on Thursdays and have just designated
a small plot for Te Kapehu Whetū students who will be tending to their vege patch from August onwards. During the Covid lockdowns we also provided care boxes of medicine and vegetables to whānau at their request with a focus on the elderly and vulnerable. This year we intend to provide more kai to whānau focusing on a grow to order basis; mentor more new farmers; grow out more heritage seed to make it accessible to new farmers; and hold monthly community open days from spring onwards, we hope everyone can attend!
IMAGE ABOVE: Māra kai in early 2020.
Te Rewarewa Block Histories
After the creation of Te Rewarewa in 1865 it was split into two blocks; A and B. The B block was subject to a series of partitions during the first half of the 20th century. In 1915 large sections of the harbour side land at Rewarewa was taken by public works taking for the railway being created at that time. Te Rewarewa B2 lost 5 acres and Te Rewarewa B1B lost a little less than 1 acre. The railway lines now cut past the Rewarewa D block.
The small size and awkward shape of many of the land blocks became an issue for the Crown and they decided to intervene. In 1965, the Māori Trustee was appointed to organise the various Māori land blocks at Toetoe and Rewarewa. This appointment was made in response to increasing pressure to utilise the land for commercial purposes by outside interests, including the Māori Trustee, Northland Harbour Board and others.
Soon after the Māori Trustee was appointed, an amalgamation brought together 13 Rewarewa and Toetoe blocks to create Rewarewa C and D. Owing to increasing pressure from the Harbour Board which presented a potential threat to ownership, the owners decided to proceed with establishing a Māori Incorporation over the land.
Rewarewa D Māori Land Incorporation was formed in 1970, with 66 shareholders named. In 1979 the decision was made to plant the block out into forestry. Whānau invested their hard work to plant out the block in 1979/80. In 1987 the forestry right was granted to Taitokerau Forestry Ltd (TFL) for a term of 30 years to manage the trees to harvest.
The forestry on Rewarewa D was harvested in 2011-12, and the decision was made not the replant.
The neighbouring land, which at the time was Rewarewa C, did not proceed with a Māori Incorporation, and most of that land was sold in the years that followed. In 1973, C was partitioned into E and F. Rewarewa E was converted to General Land at some point in the 1970s and was later sold. Rewarewa F was partitioned in 1980 into F1, F2 and F3 (F1 from the original Rewarewa block, and F2 and F3 from the original Toetoe block). Rewarewa F3 was converted to general land in 1982, with F1 and F2 remaining in Māori title.
Te Rewarewa B1A1 and Rewarewa F1 remain along with Rewarewa D as residues of the Te Rewarewa block of 1865.
