Government and Hastings District Council at odds over speed of voluntary buyouts

The voluntary buyout process continues in the Hastings district. Photo / NZME

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst says she’s “incredibly pleased” by the progress of the voluntary buyout process, but it appears the Government is not.

The Hastings District Council (HDC) has to negotiate a buyout with 165 Cyclone Gabrielle-affected homeowners. So far three of those negotiations are complete, while 25 Category 3 homeowners are still to even meet with the council.

Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell was in Hastings on Wednesday to attend cyclone anniversary services.

Mitchell told Hawke’s Bay Today the greatest impediment to Hawke’s Bay’s recovery was the protracted nature of the buyout process.

“One thing I’ve identified in my role is we really need to speed up the categorisation and buyouts, because that’s what’s trapping people.

“They can’t move on until we get that done.”

The HDC and Napier City Council (NCC) agreed to a 50:50 cost-sharing agreement with the previous Government, last August.

Mitchell says the new coalition Government is committed to helping Hawke’s Bay on the road to recovery, but can’t while delays persist at council level.

“The Prime Minister [Christopher Luxon] has now been here twice with me. He recognises and agrees with me that we need to continue finding ways to speed up the actual categorisation,” Mitchell said.

“Well, not so much the categorisation, but the buyouts. They’re doing well on the categorisation, but we’ve got to find a way to get the buyouts [done] and I think all the councils are challenged by the same issue and that’s capacity and capability.

“There’s money there now. The money is sitting there for buyouts. It’s just that the council is leading the process around categorisation and those buyouts, so they’re better to speak to that.

“My role is quite simply to partner with them and say ‘What can I do to help?’.

“And it’s not actually about money at the moment, because there’s plenty of money there.”

Mitchell says he’s made several visits to Hawke’s Bay since February 14, 2023.

“And that’s helpful in my role now, because I’m not just sitting down in Wellington. I actually understand what the challenges are,” he said.

Those challenges are being dealt with daily by HDC, not just on flying visits to the region.

“The buyout office opened towards the end of October, which it couldn’t do until a funding agreement had been signed off with Government,” Hazlehurst said.

“Now, within 14 working weeks, 130 of the initial interviews out of 165 have been held with owners, with another 10 scheduled and the last 25 either not quite ready to engage or have decided against being part of the process at this time.

“Nearly a quarter are about to receive an offer, have approved an offer and are about to settle, or have settled.

“We are being very transparent about where we are up to in this process, with a dashboard on our council website showing exactly how many are up to what stage.

“The bit that takes the longest is getting the valuations. Council commissions one and property owners have the option of obtaining one too.

“This does take time, but it’s incredibly important that this part of the process is done to the highest professional standard by skilled independent valuers so owners can be comfortable that the offers are built on the best possible information.”

The HDC and NCC have a 15-strong team working on the buyouts, in conjunction with independent valuers and Hazlehurst says that process can’t be concluded with a click of the fingers.

“I am confident that the team will have the bulk of offers worked through by August, but we also need to be mindful of not rushing people who want time to consider their options just to meet an arbitrary deadline,” Hazlehurst said.