March 22, 2023
Council dinged for Erebus Memorial rush
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has found Auckland Council acted unreasonably over the siting of the proposed National Erebus Memorial on a historic pa site in Parnell.
The project sparked an occupation of the site in Dove-Meyer Robinson Park led by Ngati Whatua kuia Dame Naida Glavish.
As the landowner, the council needed to approve the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s application to use the site.
Mr Boshier found the council pushed the local board to support that application before all the conditions set out in the board’s in-principle resolution had been fulfilled.
It also failed to share an environmental consultant’s report with the local board.
Mr Boshier says the council’s procedures were reasonable in other respects, and it was justified in granting a building consent exemption.
In a separate investigation last year, the Ombudsman found Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage acted unreasonably by not consulting more widely before forming a preference for a location for the proposed site.