Kāpiti Coast District Council considered the High Court judgement on a judicial review brought by Wakefield Group Holdings Limited regarding Moy Place, Ōtaki, at their Council meeting yesterday.

In 2024, Wakefield Group Holdings Limited applied to Council to request Moy Place, a road reserve, be dedicated as legal road to provide access to the Moy Estate subdivision.

The judicial review related to previous Council decisions on 28 November 2024 and 30 January 2025 to not dedicate the road reserve at the end of Moy Place (Lot 72 DP 400543) as legal road.

On 21 November 2025, the Court set aside the Council decisions and directed Council to reconsider them in accordance with the terms of the High Court judgement. This included the purposes for which the road reservice was created under the Reserves Act 1977.

Councillors considered the judgement at yesterday’s Council meeting and assessed it appropriate to follow process under the Reserves Act – approving the dedication of Lot 72 as legal road.

Mayor Janet Holborow said Council respects the court decision.

“Each time this has come to the table it’s been a difficult decision for Councillors to make as they balanced strong community feedback with a relatively constrained legal process,” she said.

“But we now have clear independent legal advice that we considered when revisiting the decision for the third time.

“Council has made some change to the way road reserves are classified to make things less complex and to help ensure communities and elected members are not placed in this type of situation again.”

Read the High Court judgment – 21 November 2025: https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/media/3hahadko/wakefield-group-holdings-limited-v-kapiti-coast-district-council.pdf

Read the Council meeting agenda report - 11 December: https://kapiticoast.resolve.red/web/Player.aspx?id=246&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0

Note:

• On 28 November 2025, Council notified all residents on Moy Place of the High Court judgment by a letterbox drop with a link to the decision and advising residents of the ability to attend the 11 December meeting in public speaking time to provide feedback on the decision. Councillors heard from three members of the public as well as Mr Irons from Wakefield Group Holdings Limited.

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