Te Taikuru formerly known as Shelly Bay has been given the green light by the Wellington City Council to start developments which Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trusts CE Wayne Mulligan says could start before Christmas.
Mulligan says “We are pleased to announce that the Wellington City Council have put their property into our joint venture. Yes we're paying for it and going to be leasing some of it but that’s really important. That means the development process and planning can occur."
Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust attended the Wellington City Council meeting last week where they got the green light from the council to start development.
“There are huge amounts of employment opportunities through change. So there’s reconstruction, constructions, there’s hospitality tourism, we will have business centers but actually, it will be part of a wider play on Motukairangi.”
Despite the council’s decision to support the development, there are many groups who opposed it
“There is a small section of the community that wants to challenge via judicial review that this can go ahead but what’s important in the recent polls is that there’s 75% of Wellingtonians approve of this."
Taranaki Whānau Wellington Trustee Holden Hohaia says “ The iwi owns this land, Te Atiawa and Taranaki Whānui and it is us who will lead this new project as a whole. I think that there are some pakeha communities around here that are jealous because of that.
The $500m proposed Te Taikuru development would include hotels, apartments, a rest home, a ferry terminal and much more.
“We've said that we want to set up a whanau day where the iwi come and the wider communities can come along too to celebrate the beginning of this project.”