8 Apr 2013

Ngai Tahu hopes to build houses in Canterbury

7:33 pm on 8 April 2013

A group representing Maori interests in Canterbury hopes to get approval to develop new housing on its ancestral lands.

Ngai Tahu set up Te Awheawhe Ru Whenua, an earthquake recovery group, after the first quake in the region in September 2010.

The group's general manager, Rick Tau, says it is submitting ideas to the Canterbury Regional Council for developing land north of Christchurch and on Banks Peninsula.

He says these ideas will be part of a wider plan the regional council is intending to give to the Earthquake Recovery Minister, Gerry Brownlee, in June.

Mr Tau says iwi and local Maori are keen to use this land, which they own, but is currently not zoned for new housing and subdivisions.