A Māori societal hapū that is battling the development of houses on one of the tribal iwi's sacred sites are concerned they have no defence against landowners cutting down ancient Puriri trees that are significant to mana whenua territorial rights.

The Ngāti Kahu o Torongare people in the Northland regions of Aotearoa have been in and out of court for close to 30 years to protect the Onoke Pā sacred site, which is traditionally the location of burying the dead of their ancestors.

Last year the hapū won an environment court case to stop houses being built on the pā, but the developers appealed and the case is set to go ahead in the High Court of New Zealand.

The Environment Court last December ruled in favour of the Ngāti Kahu o Torongare against a local council to consents for a 93-lot subdivision on the flanks of Onoke Pā, located just on the outskirts of the city of Whangarei.

The judges' ruling was critical of the Whangārei District Council decision on a failure to protect the land, saying that it was "one of the clearest cases we have seen of an inappropriate site being listed for a development where it contains sites of significance to the Māori and historic heritage".

The judges also said that it was clear that under the council's own rules that "consent should have been refused".

It was the second time the hapu Elders went to the Environment Court after initially stopping a subdivision on land way back in 1996 before being subjected decades later to the most prominent court in the land at a date yet to be set.

Hapu spokesperson Nicki Wakefield said there are no protections in place for the centuries-old trees on the site and the Ngāti Kahu o Torongare is planning on filing an injunction to stop the sacred trees getting cut down.

"We're now in the High Court probably for another year, facing an appeal to our win last year in the Environment Court and it is big mahi (occupation) for our hapū, to go into another year for a third time, needing to fight to protect Onoke (traditional values)," Ms Wakefield first told Radio New Zealand on Friday.

"When the judge made a decision at Christmas last year in the Environment Court, he invited us to apply for some extra protections for the large Puriri and Tōtara (the timber) that are on Onoke.

"We've applied for that, but it's been opposed and what we've found is that by right these huge, ancient trees can be cut down and it's a big worry for us."

The 1996 court victory was voided 22 years later after the near seven-hectare site in the rural suburb of Te Kamo was rezoned residential.

Developers Onoke Heights Limited applied in 2023 to build the 93 homes on the land and a Whangārei District Council planner recommended against it this time, but the decision still went to an Independent commissioner, who overruled council and said the development could go ahead under the rezoning.

The commissioner said Māori connection to the site, unlike the neighbouring Onoke Pā – that is protected by a hilltop reserve – was not clear.

Ms Wakefield said there were no longer an "automatic" protection for these trees and that the current landowners had a legal right to cut them down, should they chose to do so to make way for the houses.

Ngāti Kahu o Torongare remains unclear whether the group could apply for protections while the appeal was ongoing.

But should they be given an iron-clad promise the trees would remain, the defence could well be prepared to reach a compromise.

"We've asked for the owners to give us some kind of confirmation that the trees won't be cut down while the appeal is underway," Ms Wakefield said.

"But to date, we have not heard that confirmed or agreed with.

"Our hapū know that these are ancient trees and have been there for hundreds of years.

"They have been part of the wāhi tapu (sacred significance) from the time that our tupuna (restrictions) processing the dead at that site."

The legal camp for the Ngāti Kahu o Torongare has suggested it will take some time before the next court appearance to figure out whether appealing for protections was even possible.

Ms Wakefield could well feel suspicious that the developers are prepared to drag the matter through the courts until Maori group no longer can afford to defend their traditions.

"There is no funding for what we have had to go through over the last year and going into the next year," she said.

"We're purely operating off whānau koha (tribal gift).

"Already the costs are in the tens of thousands just to fight the same fight that our kaumatua did in the 90s - and won. Why are we having to do this again?"