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December 08, 2022
Compromise talks on Whakatane development
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On December 8, 2022
Download AudioA court hearing into development on an urupa near Whakatane has been adjourned while the developed enter mediation talks with Ngati Awa.
The proposed siting of a retirement village with more than 100 homes on Ōpihi Whanaungakore has been subject to years of protest from the iwi.
Ngāti Awa chief executive Reuben Araroa says the developers have signalled a change of heart.
“We want development. But we want to build communities we can be proud of and Ōpihi Whanaungakore wouldn’t be one of those communities. It would be one that has a cultural stain to it, that every time the next generation would look at, it wouldn’t be something we are proud of,” he says.
Mr Araroa says there were decisions about the land made in the past which were in retrospect a mistake and out of step with today’s attitudes.
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