Council offers help with Taranaki Maunga park plan
- Craig Ashworth
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Taranaki Regional Council has agreed to help build a new management plan for Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki national park.
The plan dictates how the former Egmont National Park is protected, restored, accessed and used.
It is being created by Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, a board set up under the redress settlement for the confiscation of Taranaki Maunga.
The council’s Policy and Planning Committee on Tuesday offered the expertise of council policy staff to assist in shaping the management plan – He Kawa Ora mō Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki.
Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi and the Department of Conservation have appointed planners Sean Zieltjes and Laura Buttimore to coordinate development of He Kawa Ora.
The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Act recognises the park’s peaks and surrounding ancestral lands as a legal person, Te Kāhui Tupua.
Zieltjes told the committee Te Kāhui Tupua doesn’t stop at the park boundaries but “sits broadly across the region”, so He Kawa Ora needed to be part of regional planning.
“Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki is not an island, and that’s recognized in … the extent of the legal personhood working out beyond Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki.”
Councillors also plan to offer their views and concerns in a submission process underway now, even before the drafting of He Kawa Ora begins.
Zieltjes said that input will be key.
“The council's a huge repository of information and data and ways of understanding what's happening around Te Papa-kura-o-Taranaki.”
Both planners have already been working with TRC policy officers, and committee chair Bonita Bigham offered to continue and possibly formalise that staff input.
Government reforms would see regional councils abolished in 2028 and Bigham said TRC needed to get crucial work and expertise included in plans like He Kawa Ora.
“Ensuring that the functions we are tasked with … whatever the new system looks like into the future, that we have managed to imbue those critical functions into work plans and strategies.”
Zieltjes said the local government shake-up could allow regional planning to include the values guiding He Kawa Ora.
“They're about collectivism, identity, relationships, restoration and reciprocity, and an intergenerational responsibility to look after our place.”
“We have this wonderful, unique opportunity where we do have a whole range of planning instruments under review all at the same time – and what better foundation to start from than some very clear values?”
The public comment period runs until October 26 and Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi is planning drop-in sessions in October to encourage community input.
In mid-2027, He Kawa Ora mō Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki will be up for formal public consultation, and review by the regional Conservation Board and the New Zealand Conservation Authority.
The completed plan finally needs joint approval by the Minister of Conservation and Te Tōpuni Ngārahu, which has representatives from the eight iwi of Taranaki.
nā Craig Ashworth craig@tekorimako.co.nz
LDR is local body journalism hosted by Te Korimako o Taranaki and funded by Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa and Irirangi te Motu
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