Building on whenua Māori?
Published on 07 August 2024
If you are thinking about establishing papakāinga on your whenua, Whangarei District Council offers free help, including how to navigate the rules and application processes. We can also help bring other agencies into conversations regarding your development plans, which can save a lot of time and confusion.
If you’re planning a papakāinga on whenua Māori as an individual, you need to make sure that you have a licence to occupy (LTO) that whenua – ensuring your whānau all agree that the piece of whenua is titled, and that your name sits on the LTO. If you’re not sure about that, you’ll need to talk to your local Māori Land Court to be sure that your whenua has a trust in place that governs that block of land, and that the trust has the authority to issue the LTO.
Once this is established, you need to get all your feasibility testing completed on the whenua. This is to be sure you’re not going to build on a swamp (or somewhere unstable or unsafe). Once your feasibility is completed, you start your design work.
You will need to design what kind of wastewater system you’ll be placing on your whenua (your effluent system), along with what kind of house you’ll be erecting (is it a relocatable home, or a new build, or something else?), and plan out your infrastructure, such as your power, your roading / driveway and your drinking water supply.
The good news is, now that the development contribution for Māori freehold land has been removed, there’s one less financial barrier to worry about! Council staff will work with you to create your aerial shots marking the areas in which your dwelling, water tanks and power supply will sit.
You then lodge all your current design work, and your LTO with your local council. To help you follow what’s happening, you’ll be able to manage all your documents and your application progress online through your own portal (you’ll be shown how to use this when you start your application process).
Building on whenua Māori is a journey that takes time and patience to navigate. Whangarei District Council has an experienced team ready to help with the process, and you can find resources online to help guide your steps:
Papakainga
This is where you will find the Te Tai Tokerau Papakāinga Toolkit, which is designed to help owners of whenua Māori navigate papakāinga development on their ancestral lands, including the processes of Council and the Māori Land Court.
Apply for help with the regulatory costs of building on whenua Māori:
Papakāinga Fund
This article was included in the July 2024 edition of Huaki:
Huaki - July 2024 (issuu.com)
Whangarei District Council contributes a page to the Huaki publication each month. Huaki spotlights Māori excellence, celebrating achievements and culture.