Gastro inquiry bills near $1m

The costs of last year’s Havelock North gastro crisis are stacking up as the Hastings District Council (HDC) yesterday announced it spent nearly $900,000 in investigations and legal fees.

Details of the costs included those incurred by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) prosecution action as well as the Government inquiry and technical investigations.

The HDC concluded the costs associated with the regional council prosecution action totalled $71,000 in legal costs and $200,000 in technical investigation costs.

Costs associated with identifying the cause of the contamination and assisting the Government inquiry totalled $133,000 in legal costs and $451,000 in technical investigation costs.

District council chief executive Ross McLeod yesterday said the former set of costs largely would not have been incurred had the regional council not opted to go down a prosecution path.

“Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has no mandate to investigate the contamination of drinking water and no powers under the Health Act.”

HBRC resource management group manager Iain Maxwell said the council has a statutory obligation under the Resource Management Act to investigate any alleged breaches of resource consents and prosecute where necessary.

The investigation saw the regional council drop its two charges against the HDC for unlawful water takes because that council conceded the breach of resource consent conditions and accepted two infringement notices, resulting in two fines totalling $1000.