Draft Town Belt Management Plan - Wellington City Council

The Council will no longer hold a grievance with the Crown on behalf of the citizens of Wellington,
but will work with the Crown and PNBST concerning land that has been ‘lost’ from the Town Belt as
originally set aside by the New Zealand Company.
2.7 Proposed approach to Town Belt additions
Regaining the original 1841 boundary of the Town Belt is unrealistic considering the way the City has
developed. A majority of the alienated original Town Belt land has either been subdivided into private
residential property or used for a community purpose, such as Wellington Hospital and Victoria
University. The Council’s policy is to recognise and provide for the continued operation and
development of Wellington Hospital and Victoria University.
The proposed priorities focus on protecting existing Town Belt land from any further reduction,
strengthening its continuity and open-space values through land additions and boundary
adjustments, and ensuring formal legal Town Belt status of land identified to be added to the Town
Belt.
It is the Council’s intention to continue to protect the existing Town Belt through the provisions of
the 1873 Town Belt Deed.
In situations where removal of Town Belt land occurs outside the Council’s control (eg by the central
government through legislation), the Council will pursue the replacement of this land with open
space land of equal value or character to be returned to the Town Belt.
There are three categories of land that could potentially be added to the Town Belt. They are:
1. Land alienated from the original Town Belt but still suitable for Town Belt purposes
This includes:
• land currently owned by the Council but not protected by the Deed. For example, former Vice
Regal, Chest Hospital, and Telecom land and Stellin Memorial Park. These areas are included
in this management plan.
• land currently owned by the Crown or Crown agency. This land is now subject to the Port
Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Act 2009 giving
Taranaki Whānui the right of first refusal to acquire when any of these properties are declared
surplus (See 2.9.5). This land includes:
• land at Clifton Terrace (former Correspondence School site)
• land at Abel Smith Street (open-space land adjacent to Te Aro School)
• part of the Wellington College
• part of Government House (this land is not covered by the right of first refusal
provisions).
2. Existing Council reserve land not part of the original Town Belt
This includes:
• land that strengthens the original Town Belt concept such as Point Jerningham, Western
Slopes Reserve and the Rangiohua lands, and
• land that extends the Town Belt concept area such as Tawatawa ridge and Houghton Valley
reserves.
3. Small pieces of land identified through Town Belt boundary adjustments
In 1994, as part of the preparation of the 1995 Town Belt Management Plan, the Council
completed a Town Belt land status investigation. This identified some legal anomalies relating to
the Town Belt boundaries. For example:
• where roads have divided the land and created small unworkable alienations so that the land
effectively functions as road reserve
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Draft Town Belt Management Plan October 2012