After Hastings District Council announced it would look into how a resource consent was granted for an "ugly" bike track on Te Mata Peak, Hawke's Bay Regional chairman Rex Graham says it is "shame" there was no consultation.
"It's been a shock to a lot of people", Mr Graham said
"I haven't seen it but I have seen pictures of it and it's a shame that they didn't consult on it because its a major feature in Hawke's Bay and carving a track up the side of it is probably not an appropriate thing to do."
While the specifics surrounding the issue were best left to Hastings district councillors to comment on, he pointed out that resource consents issues had been raised during amalgamation talks two years ago.
"This is the problem with the way we are governed in Hawke's Bay, the regional council doesn't have a say over that particular issue. We have parks and rivers but of course this isn't a park, it's private land. This is part of the problem were trying to solve in the amalgamation debate but failed to do so."