Mauao will in future be managed by a joint iwi and Tauranga City Council board, sharing political control between the iwi owners and the current administration.

The new board, which is yet to be named, will consist of four iwi and four council members.

Mauao.

It replaces the present structure and gives the owners equal say in the mountain's day-to-day management.

At present, council decisions on Mauao are guided by the Tangata Whenua council committee chaired by Huikakahu Kawe and the Mauao Steering Group, chaired by Councillor Wayne Moultrie. Both committees have iwi and councillor representatives.

The council meeting was a blend of marae protocol and meeting rules with karakia and iwi speakers preceding the council's unanimous decision to proceed with the new structure.

The mountain is owned by the Mauao Trust.

Its chairman, Shane Ashby, says the iwi and council aspirations for Mauao are the same.

'We want a strong and healthy maunga that will stand tall and proud for the next thousand generations.

'We do not want to see structures, commercially viable or not, on Mauao.

'We do not want to stop public access to Mauao.”

The decision represents a step the three owners have been waiting a long time for, about148 years since the land confiscations, to be whole and united one again with their tipuna maunga mauao.

'We believe there are so few times and opportunities in our lives where we get the opportunity to change history for the good and benefit of all people in our communities,” says Shane.

'I believe you have the chance today to be part of a solution to a problem that no other before you has tried to tackle or dared to resolve.

'You have the mana in your hands today to make right a very old wrong.

'To bring justice to an injustice, which has seen 148 years of pain and anguish suffered by one portion of your community.”

Post treaty settlement Tauranga iwi will be playing a vital role in the region's economic, social and political landscape, says Shane.

'Our first partnerships will be with those with whom we are inextricably bound by history, whakapapa, good faith and trust. Those can and should be you. The proposed model ensures it will be you.”

The crown returned ownership of the Mauao Historical Reserve to Tauranga Moana iwi in 2008, but that did not include the day to day administration which remains with the Tauranga City Council.

The owners currently have input into the management of Mauao on the Tangata Whenua/TCC committee, currently chaired by Huikakahu Kawe and with six council and six iwi representatives.