November 15, 2020
No love for Shelly Bay progress
Work is expected to start this week on development on a former defence base beside Wellington Harbour despite ongoing legal challenges.
Wellington City Council last week voted to approve the conditions for the sale and lease of just under a hectare of named needed by developer Ian Cassels to meet the terms of the resource consent for the 350-home development at Shelly Bay.
The base was brought a decade ago with the bulk of Taranaki Whānui’s treaty settlement cash, but after getting into financial strife the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust sold the land to the developer, retaining an undisclosed interest in the development.
Catherine Love from Mau Whenua, a faction of Taranaki Whānau descendants whose challenge to the sale of the land is due to be heard by the High Court next March, says she was disappointed by the vote.
"Because it was actually a number of the Green and Labour councillors primarily who voted to support this development despite the weight of evidence of negative environmental impact. Despite the technical issues around the width of the road and the traffic and the pollution and despite the overwhelming evidence mana whenua, the majority of us were not in favour of this development," she says.
Since freeing up the cash tied up in Shelly Bay the Port Nicholson Trust has increased treaty settlement assets from $15 million to almost $43 million.
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