Protection of values on Crown-owned land
To streamline and eliminate the unnecessary duplication of government processes relating to the disposal of Crownowned land, Cabinet has agreed to rescind the Land of Potential Interest Process introduced in 2007 and require every
Crown agency to manage values on land under its control. Ministers have written to all agencies, including Stateowned enterprises (SOEs) and Crown entities, advising of these decisions and the Government’s expectation that all
agencies will ensure significant values on land proposed for disposal are considered and protected.
This factsheet has been developed by Land Information
New Zealand (LINZ), in consultation with other Crown
agencies, to provide further advice on the types of
significant values that may be required to be protected,
and how to obtain further information.
Other disposal processes including the Mechanism for the
Protection of Mäori Interests, notifications to Department
of Conservation, Housing New Zealand, and the New
Zealand Historic Places Trust, or the Sites of Significance
process, are also unaffected.
This factsheet is not intended to outline in detail how such
values should be identified and considered, as the level
of investigation will vary depending on the nature of the
land being disposed of. As vendors of land, each Crown
agency must fully investigate its land and seek expert
advice on any identified values before disposal.
Where they apply, these processes provide a formal way
of identifying and protecting the values identified in this
factsheet. Crown agencies must continue to comply with
these processes. In doing so, the Crown agency does not
have to undertake a separate investigation of the same
values (eg the process to notify the New Zealand Historic
Places Trust is a formal process to meet a Crown agency’s
requirement to identify and consider heritage values).
Role of Crown agencies in the disposal
of land
All government departments, state owned enterprises
and Crown entities are responsible for managing land and
buildings on their balance sheet. This includes ensuring
that any values that may be present on the land are
properly identified, appropriately managed and protected
if necessary before the land is disposed of.
If significant values are identified or issues arise during
management or disposal of the land, the relevant oversight
agency or Minister should be notified as soon as possible.
Linkage with existing processes
Existing statutory processes governing the disposal
of land, such as the Public Works Act 1981 or Treaty
settlement legislation, remain unaffected by the rescinding
of the Land of Potential Interest process. These must be
complied with, where applicable.
Where one or more of the processes are not applicable
to a Crown agency, it is expected that the agency will still
consider the relevant values in this factsheet and seek
expert advice from the appropriate contact agency where
necessary.
If that advice recommends protection of a value, the
Crown agency should fully consider the recommendation
and make a decision, at an appropriate management level,
before disposing of the land. If the Crown agency decides
not to implement a recommendation it should notify the
agency that provided the recommendation, and provide
reasons for its decision.
Potential values to be considered
If a Crown agency considers its property has any of the
following values or has any issues or questions about any
of the values it should seek advice from the appropriate
contact agency.
Land Information New Zealand | Protection of values on Crown-owned land | April 2010
Natural values
(Note that these uses may co-exist with other specific
development of the land, such as forestry.)
Natural values include plants and animals and their actual
(or potential) habitats, ecosystems, landscapes, landforms
and processes, and geological features.
••
What is the level of public access to the property?
••
The significance of a site can be assessed by measures
of: the size of the area, populations or features that the
area contains; the biodiversity that it contains; how
natural the site is; how representative it is; how rare and/
or threatened the features it contains are; the buffering
or linkages that the site provides to other sites; how
viable the site is; and the ecosystem services that the site
provides.
Is the property close to other recreational facilities
that could fulfil the same purpose as the property in
question?
If there is existing public use, it can also be useful to
contact local recreational groups such as hunting or
fishing organisations, and tramping or orienteering clubs.
Some information resources that can be used to consider
and help protect significant values on Crown-owned land
proposed for disposal include:
Historic heritage
••
the Department of Conservation Biodiversity Data
Inventory, Threatened Plants Database, Herpetofauna
Database and casual observations
••
the NIWA Freshwater Fish Database (www.niwa.
co.nz) and Freshwater Biodata Information System
(https://secure.niwa.co.nz/fbis/index.do)
••
Protected Natural Area Programme and other natural
area survey reports, held in libraries, DOC and local
authority offices
••
the New Zealand Threat Classification System Manual
(www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/newzealand-threat-classification-system-manual/) and
the New Zealand Threat Classification System Lists
(www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/newzealand-threat-classification-system-lists-2005/)
••
National Priorities for Protecting Rare and Threatened
Native Biodiversity on Private Land (www.mfe.govt.
nz/issues/biodiversity/initiatives/private-land/workprogramme.html)
••
the New Zealand Geopreservation Inventory
(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~bw.hayward/NZGI/)
Contact: Relevant Department of Conservation
Conservancy Office (www.doc.govt.nz/about-doc/
structure/conservancy-map/) (DOC staff are likely to refer
you to other useful contacts).
Recreation values
Existing and potential recreational uses of the land should
CONTACT DETAILS
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disposal:
••
Has the property been used for recreational activities,
such as walking, biking, fishing, or horse trekking?
Contact: Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC),
Wellington
Historic heritage is defined in the Resource Management
Act 1991, and can include historic sites, structures, places
and areas, archaeological sites; sites of significance to
Mäori, including wäi tapu. Crown agencies may have
large and significant portfolios of historic heritage that
illustrate past and present government activities, or hold
sites dating from Mäori and European settlement.
The Policy for Government Departments; Management of
Historic Heritage 2004 applies to government departments.
The policy sets out principles that other Crown agencies
may also wish to consider for the management of their
land. This is available at: www.mch.govt.nz/publications/
her-policy/heritage-policy.html.
There are a number of information sources on historic
heritage. Territorial authority district plans will record
historic and archaeological sites. The New Zealand
Historic Places Trust compiles a register of registered
historic places, historic areas, wähi tapu and wähi tapu
areas (see www.historic.org.nz), and the New Zealand
Archaeological Association has a register of recorded
archaeological sites.
Contact: New Zealand Historic Places Trust
Cultural significance to Maori
Mäori communities may have a particular relationship to
sites on land administered by a Crown agency. Te Puni
Kokiri’s Sites of Significance process applies to specific
types of Mäori heritage or cultural sites. The aim of this
process is to have protection using existing statutory
and administrative provisions in place before the land is
transferred out of Crown ownership.
Other sites may also be of heritage and cultural
significance to Mäori. These include traditional religious
ceremony sites, wananga sites, traditional resource sites,
battle sites, occupation sites, boundary markers, sacred
landscape features and sources of water for healing and
death rites.
Land Information New Zealand | Protection of values on Crown-owned land | March 2010
A Crown agency may become aware of such sites during
its management of the land, through direct approaches
from Mäori, or as part of its relationship with local
communities. If so, measures necessary to protect such
sites should be considered before disposal of that land.
historic information held on the land, such as activities
that have occurred on the land or records of approaches
by members of the public or interest groups. As noted,
processes such as notification to DOC, where applicable
will also identify such values.
Contact: Relevant Te Puni Kokiri regional office
Reviewing records held by other agencies, such as district
plans and other Council records, or registers held by
the New Zealand Historic Places Trust or New Zealand
Archaeological Association would also be useful to
provide the Crown agency a full picture of the land.
Use in a future Treaty settlement
There are a number of mechanisms for dealing with
Crown-owned land in Treaty of Waitangi settlements,
including:
••
the right of first refusal and other provisions contained
in legislation and deeds where settlements have been
reached
••
the Office of Treaty Settlements’ Protection
Mechanism for land held by government departments,
district health boards and Crown research institutes,
which provides for Mäori to express an interest in the
Crown setting aside land for possible use in future
settlements, and
••
memorial systems for SOE land, Crown forestry land
and education land transferred to tertiary institutions.
Information on the settlement process and Protection
Mechanism can be found at www.ots.govt.nz
Where land is not covered by any of the above
mechanisms, it would be prudent to discuss the disposal
with the Office of Treaty Settlements as early as possible
to identify whether any issues may exist. This includes
where claimants have identified a specific property for
use in a settlement or where the Crown is in current
negotiations with an iwi in the area.
In addition, it would be appropriate to consider any public
information about adjoining or nearby properties, as such
values may extend on to the Crown agency’s land. For
example, a district plan identifying a pä site on private
land could mean that archaeological sites related to that
pä (such as cultivation areas) may extend on to adjoining
Crown-owned land.
Protections
The protections for any values identified will depend on
the nature of the value and could include:
••
advising prospective purchasers of the values and any
statutory requirements (eg Historic Places Act 1993)
••
recording the value on a relevant district plan, or other
register
••
creating heritage, conservation or other covenants or
public access easements that are recorded against
the land
••
transferring the land to another Crown agency.
The exact protection should be developed in discussions
with the relevant advisory agency, where appropriate.
Contact: Office of Treaty Settlements, Wellington
Identification of values
Identifying the above values should be part of the due
diligence investigations a Crown agency undertakes
when preparing land for disposal. This should include
undertaking an inspection of the land and reviewing
ENQUIRIES
CONTACT DETAILS
If you want to know more about the information
included in this factsheet you can contact:
Craig Harris
Manager Crown Property Regulatory
PO Box 5501
Lambton Quay
WELLINGTON 6145
PH: (04) 460 0110
FAX: (04) 472 2244
[email protected]
Land Information New Zealand | Protection of values on Crown-owned land | April 2010