A passion for planning

Nā Ila Couch 

It’s not every day you meet someone who loves their career so much they’re keen to recruit more people to join them, but that’s how passionate Tanya Stevens is about her mahi. “Honestly, if more people knew what a planner does, they would want to do it,” says the Senior Policy Advisor in Te Whakaariki/Strategy and Influence Team for Kāi Tahu. Tanya talks to kaituhi Ila Couch about the joys of having a job with a purpose and why we need more Kāi Tahu in planning roles.

In another life, Tanya Stevens (Ngāi Tahu) MPlanPrac, BMus, MNZPI, PIEMA would be a concert clarinetist. That was the dream she was pursuing while holding down a job at Auckland University and studying for a degree in music.“I worked for the university in student information through most of my music degree,” says Tanya. “I had to find out more about planning and the department head made it sound so interesting I asked if they would consider someone like me who had studied music, to study a master's in Planning Practice.”The answer was “yes”, and more than 15 years into her career as a planner Tanya couldn’t be happier.

“Planning is a career that needs different people from different backgrounds to reflect the communities we live in. Iwi are affected by all areas of planning, so when you catch on to the fact that someone has made a decision about something affecting you, you realise how important it is.”

Tanya attending Te Ohu Kaimoana Hui-ā-Tau, 2024. PHOTOGRAPH: Te Ohu Kaimoana

Every region around the motu operates under local government councils, which require planners to create policies that promote good outcomes for communities. Planners can work on housing, freshwater and hazards management, transport, heritage protection, promoting energy efficiency, and protecting or managing effects on the environment.

Their mahi requires them to be subject experts through public engagement, research, written reports, submissions and evidence. Tanya’s first job after completing her Masters was at Auckland City Council, largely working on residential resource consents. Deciding to venture abroad, she landed a planning job in Manchester with the oldest firm of chartered surveyors in the UK, Drivers Jonas. The company merged with Deloitte, and Tanya then found herself working for the biggest finance firm in the world.

“It was a real privilege to work on a range of different schemes, mainly in urban development,” says Tanya. “We worked on big projects, including securing planning permission for a new university campus (Birley Fields), a new hospital, and a 1.2 million square foot distribution centre. It was an amazing experience.”

After seven years abroad Tanya decided to return home, and in 2014 she took a job within Te Rūnanga. Through her mahi she ensures mana whenua rights, interests and aspirations are represented within the planning framework.

She has provided expert planning evidence to hearings panels, including the Christchurch City Council District Plan Review, proposed Marlborough Environment Plan and Aquaculture Variations, and appeared as an expert planning witness in the Environment Court and mediation.

“When I prepare evidence, I’m using my knowledge as a planning expert to navigate very formal legal (western) processes, and while doing so I’m drawing on the evidence or views of Papatipu Rūnaka experts to influence those processes and achieve the outcomes that Papatipu and Te Rūnanga are looking for in the environment.”

Akaroa Harbour visit with Environment Canterbury, Te Rūnanga kaimahi and Ōnuku Rūnanga. PHOTOGRAPH: supplied

The formation of regional environmental entities has further developed resource management and planning capacity throughout Papatipu Rūnaka, including Mahaanui Kurataiao, established in 2007 by the six Papatipu Rūnaka of Te Tai o Mahaanui, Aukaha (formerly Kāi Tahu ki Otago), a mana whenua-owned consultancy delivering social, economic, environmental, and cultural services across the takiwā of five Papatipu Rūnaka shareholders, and Te Ao Marama Inc, made up of representatives of the four Murihiku Rūnaka.

There have been many career highlights with Te Rūnanga. She recently worked with individual successors and Te Arawhiti on legal access to the Hāwea/Wānaka (Sticky Forest) SILNA site, a previously landlocked block of land set aside as replacement for the original allocation at “The Neck” to so-called “landless natives” following the 10 major land purchases in the Kāi Tahu takiwā. Now, 170 years later, the successors are working towards the transfer of ownership to them.

“We were able to influence a plan change to enable legal vehicle and infrastructure access to a block that had been landlocked for years,” says Tanya. “It’s satisfying to know that when it is eventually transferred there will be an ability for the successors to realise the benefits from that block.”

Representatives from Aukaha, Te Ao Marama, Papatipu Rūnaka and Te Rūnanga attending the Otago RPS hearing. PHOTOGRAPH: supplied

While some days are more challenging than others, Tanya says Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has a depth of history and forward focus that makes it the ultimate place to work. “Planning is about the interaction between people and the environment," says Tanya. “Ngāi Tahu have consciously understood and managed this interaction for generations, so while the formal profession and concept of planning was born from the Industrial Revolution, and since evolved, it’s not new for Ngāi Tahu.

“We have a lot to add to planning processes. We think about how something will affect our children’s children far beyond an election term or the life of a planning document, and this is good for the whole community.”

Anticipating a future where there will be higher competition for resources, Tanya hopes more whānau answer the call to take up roles in resource management and planning. To support this she has been working Te Pou Here Pūreirei to find ways to support whānau into planning.

“There’s nothing like being the one who holds the pen and I want as many people as possible who are Ngāi Tahu, or Ngāi Tahu friendly, to be involved in those processes, whether it’s in a private consultancy, government, working for Te Rūnanga, or a consultancy for Papatipu Rūnanga.”