Fenton Wilson walk-out prevents decision at Hawke's Bay Regional Council

Fenton Wilson forced a deferral on a crucial council decision by walking out of a committee meeting. Photo / File

Tensions within the Hawke's Bay Regional Council came to a head at a meeting of the Regional Planning Committee, when a councillor walk-out left the council unable to vote on an important issue.

The vote was to decide whether new minimum flow levels should be put in place for the Tukituki catchment, or delayed another two years.

Councillor Fenton Wilson, who supports delaying the new minimum flows, walked out, meaning the committee did not have a quorum and could not vote on the issue on Wednesday.

He said water security was vital to people, whether it was for personal or business use.

"Reluctantly, I am going to bring this to a head and remove the quorum, and we will have our deferral and we'll talk about it next meeting," he said before leaving the room.

Council Chairman Rex Graham said he would have his say after Wilson left the room, despite not having a quorum.

He said originally he was in favour of delaying the new minimum flow regime, but had since changed his mind following community consultation.

Councillor Tom Belford said the action opened a can of worms.

He said if that was the way the regional council was going to conduct governance, he would absent himself from every meeting.

"A clever move, yeah, good governance, bulls...."

He said it was a mistake of the meetings' co-chairs to accept the walk out, and felt they should have a conversation with Wilson.

Graham, however, did not believe having a conversation with Wilson about governance was going to bring him back into the room.

Without a quorum, the committee had two options, either agree to defer the decision, bring Wilson back into the meeting and continue with the rest of the agenda, or cancel the meeting.

"I'm not going to be blackmailed by him," Graham said, and cancelled the meeting.

The committee will discuss the issue at the next meeting in two months' time.