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A Waikato iwi has made good on a threat to ask the Maori Land Court
to preserve public access to the Maungatautari ecological reserve.
Family of Ngati Koroki Kahukura says
the iwi sought an injunction last week when Maungatautari 4G4 Trust
welded shut gates leading to the mountain.
We have made submissions to the Crown and the Council
for monies to go to them.
Despite that they have locked the gate so we have told them,
and the Crown, that this is wrong
because the local people who own this land agreed
from these gates to be erected on these lands.
That's what we maintain.
There are 20 separate blocks within the fenced reserve.
He says while some landowners may be frustrated
at the pace of negotiations over compensation
for land in the reserve, the trust went too far closing the gates.