Legal Status

Maori land claim

Several Taranaki Whanui (including Te Atiawa, Ngati Tama, Taranaki and Ngati Ruanui) communities lived in the area where the New Zealand Company decided to establish the settlement of Wellington.

The history of land acquisition, including land covered by the Town Belt, is part of the Port Nicholson Block Claimants' current claim with the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of Taranaki Wharanui. The Tribunal has found that the Crown, in taking most of the town belt land from Maori without their consent or consultation, and without making payment, breached the Treaty. Settlement of the Taranaki Wharanui claim is currently under negotiation.

Unique legislation

In 1840 Captain William Mein Smith drew the Plan of Wellington. On the instructions of the New Zealand Company, he set aside a belt of some 625 hectares that separated the town from the country. The land was “reserved for the enjoyment of the public, and not to be built upon”.

The land came to be known as the Wellington Town Belt, and was formally reserved for public purposes by the Crown in 1841.

It was transferred to “the Mayor, Councillors and Citizens of the City of Wellington” under the Wellington City Reserves Act 1871, and vested in the Wellington Municipal Council (now Wellington City Council) by the Town Belt and Basin Reserve Deed 1873 (pdf 768kb).

The 1873 Deed is very important because it states that:

• the Town Belt is held in trust for all Wellingtonians;
• the Council cannot alienate or dispose of Town Belt land.

This means that land can only be removed from or added to the Town Belt by Act of Parliament.

Reserves Act

The Town Belt is also a ‘reserve’ under the Reserves Act 1977. The terms of the Town Belt Deed override the Reserves Act, however.

Resource Management Act

The Town Belt has its own zone – Open Space C – in the Wellington City District Plan, in recognition of its special significance to Wellington.