Energy-workshop exclusion dismays

Paul Bailey, of lobby group Don't Frack the Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council has come under fire for not inviting the public to a workshop organised this month to help establish a regional energy strategy.

The council has invited about 30 groups and organisations to the May 20 workshop, which will be facilitated by energy consultant George Hooper.

Before the workshop, Dr Hooper is preparing a stocktake of Hawke's Bay's energy status, resource inventories and energy-use patterns and associated growth projections, to provide a clear picture of how Hawke's Bay uses energy and the opportunities for new investment, the council said in a letter to invitees.

Attendees at the workshop have been told they will be working towards agreement on "broad-based priorities for improving energy outcomes and investment in the underpinning energy infrastructure for the region and, thus, establish a robust framework for future community consultation".

Those invited to the workshop include the region's four territorial local authorities, energy companies, major regional employers - including Heinz Wattie's - and business groups.

But Paul Bailey, of lobby group Don't Frack the Bay, who is also the Green Party's Napier spokesman, said he was outraged the session was not open to anyone who wished to attend.

"To claim that the workshop will seek to bring together the key stakeholders and decision-makers in our region's energy networks and then exclude the public in its entirety, is frankly an insult," he said in an email to the council.

"Are we, the ratepayers and citizens of Hawke's Bay, not key stakeholders? Do our opinions or ideas count for nothing?"

Regional council chief executive Liz Lambert said the workshop was an "initial scoping" exercise to look at how the council would later go out to consult "meaningfully" with the public.

Therefore, it was not considered appropriate to open it up to all-comers, she said.

"The idea of this workshop is not to get down to the nitty-gritty around arguments as to whether we should have fracking or not - it's about energy strategies at a much higher level than that."

She said as a result of Mr Bailey raising his concerns with the council, she had invited him to attend the workshop as a representative of Don't Frack the Bay.

However, the council's stance of not inviting the public would not be changed because "we don't have anything to focus on yet", she said.