NEW REGIONAL PARK FOR AUCKLAND

A new regional park for Auckland has become a reality following the creation of the Mutukaroa (Hamlins Hill) Trust by the Minister of Lands Denis Marshall. Yesterday Mr Marshall signed the trust agreement that provides for the Crown-owned portion of the hill to be held in trust for the people of Auckland for a ten year period.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands also signed a ten year lease of the land to the trustees, who represent Auckland iwi (the Ngati Whatua Trust Board, the Ngati Paoa Trust Board and the Tainui Trust Board), the Auckland City Council, the Auckland Regional Council and the Crown. Mutukaroa (Hamlins Hill) is 48 hectares of vacant land in Penrose on the western side of the southern motorway adjacent to the Mt. Wellington off-ramp. The Crown owns around half the land, which is the subject of the trust deed. The Auckland City Council owns the rest, which it is developing for recreation purposes.

The Auckland Regional Council will manage the Crown estate on behalf of the trust and will produce a management plan and a landscape development plan for the land in consultation with the city council.

"I am delighted that the park can now go ahead," Mr Marshall said.

"Negotiations have taken many years, and this will be a great addition to the opportunities for public recreation in Auckland."

"The trust deed we have signed this week is significant because it recognises the strong wish of iwi to have the land managed as a park," he said.

"It also affirms the Crown's support for this open space being used for recreation while we wait for the outcome of the Waitangi Tribunal's consideration of claims over the land."

"If the land is used to settle a claim, I believe the fact that local iwi are represented among the trustees makes its future as a reserve secure." The Auckland Regional Council Parks Committee Chairman Bill Burrill expressed his thanks to Mr Marshall for making it possible to establish Mutukaroa (Hamlins Hill) as a park for Aucklanders.

"The Crown's decision to form a partnership with the Auckland City Council, Auckland Regional Council Parks Service and three iwi groups makes it possible for all the people of Auckland to jointly develop this park," Mr Burrill said.

"It is important that we retain this area of open space as a park, particularly as Mutukaroa is the only hill on the Auckland isthmus that is not volcanic and it has magnificent views over the Manukau Harbour and down the Tamaki River Valley."

Hamlins Hill straddles the Auckland isthmus north of the 'Portage', the traditional boundary between Ngati Whatua and Tainui. The property contains a significant old Maori fortification, Mutukaroa, which covers around a quarter of the site.

The Ministry of Works and Development purchased the land in the early 1960s to provide fill for reclaiming part of the Manukau Harbour, but never used it because of environmental and cultural concerns. The Auckland Regional Authority designated the land as 'Regional Park' in 1975, which restricted the Crown's ability to sell it when it decided in 1989 that it no longer needed it. However, after several years of discussions over the area's future the Crown, iwi and the councils reached an agreement late last year that resulted in this week's signing of the trust deed and lease. ends

Media inquiries
Bill Burrill
Auckland Regional Council Parks Committee Chairman
Ph (021) 978-139

Iain MacLean
Press Secretary to Minister of Lands
Ph (04)471-9131 (wk) / (04)239-9237 (hm)
Pager (026) 355-9560

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