Comments sought on Takapuneke Reserve   26 May 2015

Comments sought on Takapuneke Reserve

Christchurch City Council wants public input into a plan that could help make Banks Peninsula's Takapuneke Reserve a National Reserve.

The Council is currently seeking written suggestions to help draft a Reserve Management Plan for Takapuneke – a site of immense cultural significance to Ngai Tahu and Onuku Runanga.

The first step in the draft plan is gathering public comments about how people would like to see Takapuneke developed as a reserve.

Councillor Andrew Turner says Takapuneke Reserve is a landscape of immense national significance that should be fully recognised and protected.

"Takapuneke was an important centre for trade between Ngai Tahu and early 19th-century settlers, and was also the site of a massacre that resulted in the site becoming tapu.

"This was one of the drivers in a series of events that led to the Treaty of Waitangi, which illustrates the significance of the site to Maori and to the general history of New Zealand."

Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Ta Mark Solomon says, “The events at Takapuneke and the nearby Onawe Pa were to have a significant effect on British policy towards New Zealand.”

Takapuneke's site, which sits between Akaroa and the Onuku settlement in Banks Peninsula, was classified a historic reserve by Christchurch City Council in 2008.

In 2009, a Conservation Report was commissioned to identify the cultural heritage values of the site and to assist with preparing a Reserve Management Plan.

The Council agreed in 2012 to seek National Reserve status for the site. If it is successful, Takapuneke Reserve will join the Waitangi Treaty Grounds as New Zealand's only historic sites with this status.

A public consultation process is expected to take place early next year, once the Reserve Management Plan has been drafted.

People interested in making comments or suggestions to the Council about Takapuneke Reserve can do so until 5:00pm on Monday 29 June.

Further information about making a submission is available online via the Council's Have Your Say webpage or at Council libraries and service centres.

ENDS

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