QLDC not challenging court's Sticky Forest ruling

The Queenstown Lakes District Council will not be mounting any legal challenge to an Environment Court decision that will allow residential development of Sticky Forest in Wānaka.

In a statement today the council says it intends to "accept and abide by" the decision, a complex 131-page verdict made public in recent weeks.

A 2015 move by the council to prevent subdivision on the 50-hectare forested block, challenged by descendants of local Māori set to own the land, kickstarted a court process that lead to a hearing in Queenstown in November.

QLDC chief executive Mike Theelen says the council was "engaged fully" with the court throughout.

He calls zoning considerations related to the land "complicated", referencing a need to recognise and provide for the new landowners as well as protect the values of the Dublin Bay outstanding natural landscape located both within and to the north of Sticky Forest.

“The Environment Court conducted an extensive process and received evidence from a range of experts on these matters," Mr Theelen says.

"It has balanced these considerations and issued its decision on how the land should be zoned.”

He says the council is now working with all parties on next steps, moving in a direction outlined in the court decision, to finalise the district plan in regards to the area.

While perceived by some to be public land, Sticky Forest is being held by the Crown while it waits for transfer to its new owners - approximately 2,000 descendants of 50 original beneficiaries of a Ngāi Tahu land settlement.

These tīpuna (ancestors) did not receive a 670-hectare block at Hāwea that was promised to them in 1895, under the South Island Landless Natives Act 1906, and Sticky Forest was provided as redress for this.

In its statement today, the council says, "the area has been used informally by people in recent years for recreational activities like mountain biking".

The block is criss-crossed by more than 30 kilometres of trails that have been built and maintained by volunteers.

Despite acknowledging their disappointment at the court decision, advocacy organisation Bike Wānaka has stated it is keen to work with the new landowners to see if recreational access can be retained for areas of the forest that are not zoned to be developed.

In their decision, Environment Court judges John Hassan and Sheena Tepania and commissioner James Baines say the land comprising Sticky Forest was given as redress and therefore should allow its future owners opportunity to realise the economic aspirations that should have come to their ancestors.

It is their view the landscape experts failed to account for this in their assessments of landscape values.

Deputy mayor and Wānaka councillor Quentin Smith thinks it is an "intriguing" ruling from a resource management perspective.

“Firstly and most importantly no one is questioning the legitimacy of the treaty settlement and appropriate compensation for the beneficiaries. The outcome however is one that is difficult for the community in Wānaka who have long valued the informal access to Sticky Forest.  

"From a resource management perspective the decision is intriguing and appears to establish some interesting caselaw that we will continue to come to terms with.

"Unfortunately, in my opinion, this was never an appropriate piece of land for settlement but we are forced to accept the ruling of the court. 

"Any hope of the crown considering any other more appropriate compensation - land or financial - is long gone. 

"Hopefully there is still some opportunity to work with the landowners to achieve some good outcomes for the community for recreation and to ensure the remaining landscape values are protected."

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