alienated from them for public works, by both central and local government, several easement lines run over the blocks for gas pipelines and the like, which impact on the use that may be made of the land. Kupapa McLeod, a member of the committee of management for the incorporation, recently prepared the following report on the land alienations:
Over the course of this century, Mangatawa has had to contend with the ever increasing demands of a rapidly growing urban area. Alienation of land for Municipal purposes has been the inevitable result of this urban growth.
Land alienations that are currently subject to Waitangi tribunal investigation, have mainly occurred before the turn of the century. In the case of Mangatawa however, alienation has occurred within the living memories of it’s [sic] current shareholders.
Much of this alienation has occured [sic] through the invocation of the Public Works Act, or has been brought about by the pressure to sell tracts of land in order to pay huge debt commitments - these being foisted onto the shareholders through the advice of past government advisers, (eg. Kiwifruit orchard)
Successive local body administrations have justified this alienation as being in the interests of the wider community. Certainly if one were to view things as a civic minded citizen, then one would have to be proud of the way that Mangatawa has served the wider community.
Land has been taken for roads, railways, rubbish dumps, water pipelines, sewerage pipelines, gas pipelines, reservoirs, and of course the most pleasing civic contribution of all, the quarry.
And again, one would have to be proud of the way the authorities ignored our pleas to site the sewerage ponds elsewhere but chose to put them right on our doorstep thus ensuring that Mangatawa should continue to do their bit for the ‘good of the community’.11
The incorporation remains opposed to the construction of a second reservoir on Mangatawa, and has sought to renegotiate the lease for the site of the existing reservoir. The Tauranga District Council maintains that the incorporation has received the benefit of the following council services as a result of the water reservoir being on Mangatawa:
Construction of bridge on road from State Highway 2 to marae
$156,150
Roading associated with bridge
$37,287
Total
$193,437
Water - Fire supply to marae and 2 inch main for house supply
$8,000
Water - Farm supply
$2,000
Total
$10,00012
While the provision of the water supply services was a condition of the agreement to lease the reservoir sites, members of the committee of management claim that the
11 ‘The Reservoirs - More Alienation’, Kupapa McLeod, Committee of Management, Mangatawa-Papamoa Incorporation
12 Chief Executive Tauranga District Council to author, 23 October 1996 [pp 40-41]
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