September 01, 2016
Unitary Plan move smart and strategic
Auckland mayor Len Brown is defending two members of the Independent Maori Statutory Board who stepped aside to let the full council consider the city’s Unitary Plan.
The move by David Taipari and Liane Ngamane was widely criticised because the council then dropped a listof sites of value to Maori from the plan.
Mr Brown says strategically it was the right thing to do, given the tensions around the council table.
"This was a really much appreciated strategic move and most certainly helped us to pretty much get the unitary plan over the line, unanimous around my colleagues. It was a very very well thought out strategic play and a play that in the end delivered I think a plan that most Maori and most Aucklanders are reasonably satisfied with and it's a good building block," he says.
Len Brown says work will continue on finding a suitable way to notify landowners when their developments may affect waahi tapu and other sites of value.
Both David Taipari and Liane Ngamane have been reappointed to the Independent Maori Statutory Board by a panel representing Mana Whenua iwi and hapu.
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