October 06, 2013
Resource centres effective but illegal
The chair of the Crown Forestry Rental Trust says she is disappointed the trust has to close resource centres for Northland claimants.
Angela Foulkes says the trust has legal advice that it cannot continue to fund the four centres without having approved clients for claim funding.
However, the trust has been unable to discuss Te Paparahi o Te Raki claim issues since February because of disputes about the trust deed.
It is awaiting a date for a High Court hearing to resolve the diputes.
Ms Foulkes says the centres, which include meeting rooms, research materials and other support services, were a response to the size and complexity of Ngapuhi claims.
"What people said was they didn’t want to have to lock themselves into a particular approved client or a particular activity but they wanted to be able to get together, to have a place they could go to put together their claims and prepare for the hearings and so they have been very much a community facility. One of the staff said they had people who wanted to sleep there," she says.
Ms Foulkes says if the trust can approve clients, those claimants could decide to renew funding for the centres.
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