Environmental Defence Society Inc v Mangonui County Council - [1989] 3 NZLR 257

Town and country planning — District Schemes — Matters of national importance — Planning Tribunal apparently weighed district and regional considerations against matters of national importance in approving variation to district scheme — Whether as a matter of national importance Maori ancestral land must be confined to land currently owned by Maori people — Whether matters of national importance carry greater weight than district and regional considerations — Whether Planning Tribunal had erred in law — Town and Country Planning Act 1977, ss 3, 4 and 36. — Tribunal's decision was upheld by High Court on appeal (see (1987) 12 NZTPA 349 )