Mountain bikers celebrate long-term agreement
A 10-year agreement between Ngāti Koata Ltd and the Nelson City Council has secured access to mountain biking trails like Koata Park, formerly Codgers. Photo (File): Jack Malcolm.
The Nelson mountain biking community is celebrating this week after signing a long-term agreement between Nelson City Council and Ngāti Koata Ltd.
The ten-year recreational agreement allows access to Ngāti Koata whenua and creates long-term stability after the council agreed to an $80,000 one-year grant to Ngāti Koata in 2020.
Under the new agreement, Codgers and Fireball will be renamed Koata Park and Sharlands Creek will be renamed to Waitarake.
Nelson Mountain Bike Club chairperson Matt Ball says he was ecstatic to hear the announcement.
“Securing long term recreational access to Ngāti Koata whenua has been part of the club’s strategic plan and is the result of years of hard work by many people.
"We acknowledge Ngāti Koata for their rangatiratanga (leadership) and manaakitanga (community), their whenua makes up 80% of our city’s mountain biking trails and is highly valued by the Nelson community.
“We look forward to working with both the council and Ngāti Koata to realise our shared vision to make Whakatū (Nelson) a world class mountain biking destination."