Ngāti Mutunga has opened five new houses in Urenui to help whānau get into home ownership and grow their family connections on tribal ground. Tenants will be uri of Ngāti Mutunga – descendants registered as iwi members. They’ll pay affordable rentals for five to seven years, so they can consolidate whānau finances to buy their own home on the open market – freeing-up the house for the next family. Ka Uruora, a housing and finance trust owned by a collective of iwi, will pick

Hapū of Taranaki iwi want their interests along the region’s western coast officially recognised, so they can continue to protect kaimoana when the current rāhui is no longer legally enforceable. A hui at Puniho Pā this week agreed in principle that hapū would apply together for recognition of a collective rohe moana along the entire coastline from New Plymouth to Ōpunakē. The proposal to apply is now with each hapū to endorse, or not. The rāhui has largely held for four year

An industrial waste disposal site in Taranaki has been fined $71,250 for spreading a stink that smelled like poo and pig effluent. Poultry farm waste, slaughtered cow stomach contents, petroleum drilling muds and other waste was trucked to Remediation New Zealand’s site at Urutī northeast of New Plymouth for more than 20 years. Judge Melinda Dickey ruled that council site assessments left no doubt the odour was objectionable, and there were likely offensive smells at times ou