HBRC wipes $250k in fees for group
Mixed response over HBRC move for dam plan advocates
Asmall group of farmers hoping to revive plans for a new dam or similar water storage facility in Hawke’s Bay have had $250,000 worth of regional council fees wiped.
The contentious decision has drawn a mixed response.
The decision relates to outstanding debt accrued by Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay — a small group of farmers holding water-storage consents from the failed Ruataniwha Dam proposal in Central Hawke’s Bay.
Those consents incur Hawke’s Bay Regional Council fees yearly, known as freshwater science charges, and they have added up to a significant sum over the years — about $380,000.
A council decision was made in 2022 to defer the charges and a follow-up decision was made recently on whether to cancel the debt.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chief executive Nic Peet decided to forgive two-thirds — $255,362 — of the group’s debt.
Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay has paid the $127,681 remainder.
A regional council spokesperson said the chief executive made the decision “under his delegated authority” at the end of 2023, and it was not made by councillors.
Nothing has been built as part of the consents, such as a dam.
“The judgment on remission needed to consider the extent to which the consent holder had
benefitted from HBRC’s water and environmental monitoring, and the extent to which the charges related to the effects of the connected activity,” the spokesperson said.
Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay director Hugh Ritchie said “any remission was good” but it was “still a pill to swallow” paying $127,000, as nothing had been done with the consents.
“The argument still has been that science charges are there to monitor the effect of a consent on the environment, and we are having no effect at all,” he said.
“It was a sticking point that people claimed we were not paying our dues, but I think there was a rational argument as to why we were discussing
and challenging the amount and paying them at all . . . To move things forward we have paid what we’ve paid.”
He said the group had made a submission on the regional council’s proposed long-term plan about reducing science charges for consent holders who did not act on consents.
“It is not that we are sitting on our ass doing nothing, and so why should we pay, it is the fact that we legally can’t do anything [with the consents].”
Another group, Wise Water Use Hawke’s Bay, has slammed the move
to cancel the $250,000 in fees.
“[The regional council has] delivered a whopping two-thirds discount on their bill at a time when ratepayers face massive rates increases in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle,” spokesman Trevor Le Lievre said.
Le Lievre said Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay knew they did not have the land when they purchased the consents in 2018, and should be made to pay all the associated fees. He also said it was concerning the decision had been made by the chief executive instead of the elected council.
The failed Ruataniwha Dam proposal, which the regional council began looking into in 2008, was intended as a long-term water supply solution for Central Hawke’s Bay.
The Supreme Court found in 2017 that the then Minister of Conservation acted illegally in trying to make 22ha of Ruahine Forest Park available for exchange to the regional council’s Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company Limited for the $330 million project.
As a result, the regional council voted unanimously in 2017 to move on from the Ruataniwha scheme and focus its efforts on other priorities.
Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay bought the consents related to that dam proposal for $100,000. The group are pushing for a similar project under a new name, the Makaroro Storage Scheme.