Kapiti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan is backing a small group of whānau from Ngāti Puketapu hapū asking the Crown to return their ancestral land which has been developed into the Kapiti Airport.
Gurunathan claims the legal system has not addressed its Treaty obligations to mana whenua.
The land was taken by the government for defence purposes during World War II but the government failed to return the land later, instead choosing to sell it to a private buyer.
Ngāti Puketapu says it wants to save the airport if ownership passes back to it.