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Download AudioThe chair of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust says the deal to sell land at Shelly Bay to developer The Wellington Company remains in place, despite a cessation of hostilities with protest group Mau Whenua.
Kara Puketapu-Dentice says by sitting at the table over a cup of tea as whānau and uri, both sides quickly came to the realisation that trust and Mau Whenua had the same aims.
But the trust is locked into its deal to sell the former harbourside Defence Force base, which it bought more than a decade ago but could not develop by itself.
“We have added bits to it which will see us own basically commercial precincts within Shelly Bay and some of the other bits of land out there as well, and also there is the opportunity to talk to the city council who own other land out there,” Mr Puketapu-Dentice says.
Port Nicholson Block has rights of first refusal over about 2000 Wellington properties, and it’s important it gets the trust and confidence of members as it takes advantage of those opportunities.
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