It is good to see that the newly elected Hawke's Bay Regional Council has come to a unanimous agreement on a review to be conducted on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.
Yes, all the councillors, including the three pro-dam advocates Fenton Wilson, Alan Dick and Debbie Hewitt, agreed at the first ordinary meeting of the new council yesterday that the review should go ahead.
Finally the councillors are all in this together, albeit potentially reluctantly in some instances, and are looking at ways to work to find a solution to the situation they find themselves in.
It is quite a tricky one. Voters in Napier and Hastings almost certainly gave anti-dam candidates Paul Bailey, Rex Graham, Rick Barker and Tom Belford, a mandate by electing them. However, this is all against the backdrop of what actually and legally can be done.
As has been stated many times, it is not simply a case of the council taking a vote and rejecting the dam. I don't think that would be fair or make any sense at all. Also, one should not forget that Central Hawke's Bay candidate Debbie Hewitt was also given a mandate for the dam.
