A significant update to Matamata-Piako District’s district plan comes into effect today, as Plan Change 54 - Papakāinga becomes operative on 6 November 2024. This change aims to clear the way for quality papakāinga development in the district, supporting the social, cultural, and economic wellbeing of tangata whenua.

Te Toa Horopū ā Matamata-Piako Councillor Gary Thompson said while there were existing rules in the district plan, ongoing issues and challenges were identified by tangata whenua about the use and development of their land in the district. “The challenges included a growing Māori population and a shortage of quality affordable housing and inability to live on ancestral land”.

Councillor Thompson said it was also felt there was inadequate recognition of kaupapa and mātauranga Māori in resource management planning and decision making, multiple ownership of land and associated challenges, limited resources, and lack of capacity or capability to navigate process to develop papakāinga. “The plan change update aims to address these challenges and the unique housing and development needs of the Māori community, enabling land to be used more efficiently and meaningfully”.

Plan Change 54 includes the creation of a new Māori Purpose Zone with two precincts.  Papakāinga tahi/Precinct one enables houses to be built on marae or Māori freehold land and Papakāinga rua/Precinct two, housing to be built in areas where there are already papakāinga. The plan change would also enable development on Māori freehold land, general land owned by Māori and Treaty settlement land if there was proof of ancestral connection and legal whānau ownership.

The change marks the final step in a collaborative process involving extensive consultation with tangata whenua, key stakeholders and the public. It was initially notified in November 2022, following a project launch hui in 2019 at Kai a Te Mata Marae with representatives from various iwi authorities, including Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Hinerangi, Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Raukawa and Rangitaa Turner from Te Puni Kōkiri and key stakeholders. The final decision was announced in July 2024, and with no appeals lodged, becomes operative 6 November, enabling papakāinga to be developed in our district more freely.

You can read more about Plan Change 54 – Papakāinga at mpdc.nz/papakainga

Glossary of te reo Māori terms

Kaupapa -  a strategy, policy, or cause

Mātauranga Māori - Mātauranga Māori is about a Māori way of being and engaging in the world – in its simplest form, it uses kawa (cultural practices) and tikanga (cultural principles) to critique, examine, analyse and understand the world.

Tangata whenua – in relation to a particular area, means the iwi, or hapu, that holds mana whenua over that area.

Papakāinga - A development by tangata whenua on ancestral lands in their traditional rohe and established to be occupied by tangata whenua for residential activities and ancillary social, cultural, economic, conservation and/or recreation activities to support the cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing of tangata whenua.

Note: for the avoidance of doubt, tangata whenua is not limited to iwi or hapῡ organisations. It includes:

Māori landowners who whakapapa to the whenua and their whānau; and

Individuals and whānau who are a member of iwi or hapῡ who are tangata whenua