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A Tauranga marae leader is “really disappointed” and believes people will continue to suffer the effects of pollution because there is no legal reason the heavy industry surrounding the marae should be moved.

Whareroa Marae on Taiaho Place has seen Mount Maunganui’s industrial area rise up around it since the wharenui was built in 1873.

In 2020, the marae took its concerns about pollutants affecting its people to the Tauranga City Council (TCC) and Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC), calling for the managed retreat of heavy industry away from their whenua.

An advisory group was set up and an investigation into the potential for a managed retreat of heavy industry from Totara Street, south of Hewletts Road began.

That same year the marae also gave the Government a 10-year deadline to remove the heavy industry.

At a Tauranga City Council meeting this week, it was revealed there was “no feasible pathway” for a relocation because many of the industrial activities have existing user rights under the Resource Management Act.

Council strategy growth and governance general manager Christine Jones said the legal advice was many industrial activities in the area had existing use rights under the Act and the situation was not likely to change under the current draft of the Natural and Built Environment Bill.

Whareroa Marae environment spokesperson Joel Ngātuere said after the meeting the news was “really disappointing”.

”It’s ironic that these industries have existing land use rights but a community that has been there well before the arrival of Captain Cook have been given no rights.”

Whareroa Marae's environment manager Joel Ngātuere. Photo / George Novak

Ngātuere said because of the air pollution, people suffered from asthma, migraines and nausea and it impacted their mental health.

The marae has elder housing and a kōhanga reo (Māori language preschool) and between 100-120 people are onsite daily.

”The two most at-risk demographics for air pollution are children and elderly and that makes up 79 - 80 per cent of our community,” said Ngātuere.

”We’re not the only ones in the Mount to raise concerns around our respiratory issues.

”This is a well-known issue that’s affecting a large portion of people that live within Mount Maunganui.”

The air above the Mount Maunganui industrial zone and marae was designated a polluted airshed in 2019 and in March 2020 public health authorities called for immediate action on the area’s air pollution problem, presenting evidence it was harming people’s health.

Ngātuere said he believed the residential area of Mount Maunganui and the industrial area could not co-exist.

”It’s not just the air pollution, it’s the congestion and all of that that all of these industries have on our community.

”The infrastructure is not sustainable for a large residential beach community as well as a large heavy industrial area.”

Environmental charitable trust Clear the Air Mount Maunganui backed the marae’s stance and advocated for the wider community as well.

Clear the Air spokesperson Emma Jones said there was pollution because of the historic granting of existing user rights, but this did not make it right that it continued.

”Despite the fact that they have these existing use rights, we as a community feel it’s important to look at the bigger picture and the wider impacts on the residents, the communities and the schools.”

Clear the Air Mount Maunganui spokesperson Emma Jones wants heavy industry to use best practice to mitigate pollution. Photo / Alisha Evans, Sun Media

In terms of the next steps for the marae, Ngātuere said: “We’re going to continue to press the council and the government.”

He said he hoped there would be mechanisms put in place for when existing industries apply for new resource consents to discharge into the air, land or water that would review whether they were best located there.

Christine Jones said: “Rezoning under the city plan could potentially constrain future activities, but not those protected by existing use rights, and no feasible mechanism has been identified for Tauranga City Council to compel existing industry to relocate away from Whareroa Marae.”

Commission chair Anne Tolley said in a statement while the report on existing use rights does not identify a feasible way for the council to advance industry relocation, it is an important step in the work being undertaken with Whareroa Marae and BOPRC to explore future options.

”Mount Maunganui was declared a polluted airshed in late-2019.

”BOPRC has been working with industry and the measures that have been implemented by businesses have resulted in improvements.

”The intent of this ongoing work is to achieve air quality standards which would allow the airshed to be classified as non-polluted over the next decade,” said Tolley.

“BOPRC will report back on this legal opinion to the next Tauranga Moana Advisory Group meeting and set out a path forward,” said Tolley.

”The commission is keen to ensure that the current Mount Spatial Plan and Mount Industrial Planning projects explore mechanisms that will better manage future industrial land use.

”That work will focus on what can be done to achieve the aspirations of Whareroa marae hau kāinga (local people), mana whenua and the wider community, and whether a move away from emitting industries in this area can be achieved over time.”

• Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

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