Council votes to restore protections for Waikanae urupā after 56 years

The Kāpiti Coast District Council has voted to restore protections to a Māori burial ground after more than fifty years of challenges by iwi.

Local iwi Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai welcomed the decision which adds Kārewarewa urupā in the Waikanae Beach area to the District Plan as a site of significance to Māori.

Kārewarewa urupā is associated with the 1839 Battle of Kūititanga, many of those who died in the battle were buried at the urupā, and the site has been used as an urupā since the mid-19th century.

In 2020 the Waitangi Tribunal found there were a series of failings by the Crown which led to the iwi's loss of ownership and control of the Kārewarewa urupā and the removal of its 'Māori Cemetery' designation in 1970.

Following the loss of the cemetery designation, roughly half of the area was developed into housing.

Although further development mostly stalled after the remains of 11 people were uncovered at the site in the early 2000s.

Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai resource management expert Dr. Mahina-a-rangi Baker, who prepared the iwi case, said the decision by Kāpiti Coast District Council demonstrates that communities are capable of reckoning with very challenging histories.

"This has been an intergenerational fight to respect the basic human decency of our people, and recognise our long-standing presence in this land."

At the Independent Hearing Panel in June, Kahu Ropata told RNZ that Kārewarewa was significant not only to Ngāti Toa, Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Raukawa, but to the entire nation as the site of the Battle of Kūititanga is nearby.

"Kārewarewa is definitely part of our early connections to the Kapiti Coast. It's one of the first settlements that Ngāti Toa arrived at, and then later on Te Āti Awa and Taranaki. So in terms of the dispersion of the iwi here, it has huge significance to the families of Waikanae," he said.

"There's definitely a difference between a cemetery and a urupā. And a cemetery is an allocated piece of land where you can inter people. An urupā has slightly different connotations, and with that comes different sort of engagement rules, i.e. karakia appropriateness in terms of wāhī tapu and things sacred."

Moving Kārewarewa Urupā to Schedule 9 of the District Plan recognises it as a site and area of significance to Māori - and limits the activities and development that could be undertaken in the future.

Under the proposal the site would be split into two areas or wāhanga, wāhanga tahi covers the undeveloped land and would have a high level of protection.

Wāhanga rua is the area that has already been developed, it would have a moderate level of protection.

Residents will continue to live in their homes and the change allows for a "reasonable level of development" to occur provided land disturbance volumes are reasonably low and discovery protocols are followed.

Following the Waitangi Tribunal's 2020 report the Council proceeded with an attempt to restore protections, however that was quashed by the High Court after a challenge taken by Waikanae Land Company, the landowner.

The Council subsequently initiated the current process in 2024.

The Council will now notify its decision and it becomes open to appeals in the Environment Court. Subject to any appeals, Council will then notify the date the Plan Change becomes operative.