Hawke’s Bay motor caravan committee sacked after chair Nigel Simpson’s ‘aggressive’ eight-page letter

Napier councillor, mayoral candidate, and former NZMCA Hawke's Bay committee chairman Nigel Simpson.

The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association’s (NZMCA) Hawke’s Bay committee has been sacked after its chair sent an “overly aggressive” eight-page letter to the national board president.

Nigel Simpson, a second-term Napier councillor and mayoral candidate, became the chairman of the local committee in April title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/campervan-rally-brings-550-motorhomes-to-hastings/XGWNZTDRDZC2JLHJSPPKKYEEJM/">after a large congregation of campers gathered for the national association’s annual general meeting in Hastings.

However, NZMCA CEO Bruce Lochore said they made the call to dismiss the new Hawke’s Bay committee about a month later, when NZMCA national president Sharron King received a letter from Simpson.

Simpson claims the letter was written in a “matter of fact” way about matters of importance, and it should have opened dialogue with King.

He claims the national association’s response is akin to using “a sledgehammer to crack a walnut”.

Hawke’s Bay Today has requested to see the contents of the letter.

Neither Simpson, nor Lochore, have been willing to provide it.

King declined to comment, citing NZMCA protocols.

Lochore said Simpson’s letter was critical of the previous Hawke’s Bay committee, and the national board felt it was “overly aggressively targeting” two previous committee members.

“The board looked at the letter and there were a number of questions asked ... but the board interpreted it as an attack on two of the previous committee people and weren’t happy with that,” Lochore said.

“They found that there were political undertones in the writing which isn’t what we expect at a local area level.

“The areas are there for social engagement, they’re not there to be political.

“They’re there to run rallies and foster camaraderie.”

Lochore said the board found the overall tone of the letter “unacceptable” and dismissed the committee as a result.

Simpson said he and the now-defunct committee members had “inherited a couple of legacy issues” in Hawke’s Bay and had sought advice from King in the letter on the processes available to deal with those.

Simpson said it was addressed to King with the hope she would pick up the phone and give him a call.

“I indicated to them some matters that had been raised by members, some incidents,” he said.

“So I felt that it was fair to forewarn the president of why or what had caused my concerns.

“I think they’ve used a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

“The unfortunate circumstances is, what could’ve been a matter that was easily resolved through dialogue - through internal discussions and a look at processes - has been blown out of all proportion.”

When pressed over what exactly the “legacy issues” were, neither Simpson nor Lochore were prepared to elaborate.

“I think what we were doing was identifying circumstances that we were saying, look, these have happened in the past – if similar circumstances occur in the future how do we handle them?" Simpson said.

“One of the objectives of the association and the area committees is to encourage enjoyment and fellowship and things like that, and people informed me that they weren’t getting enjoyment or participating - so therefore we had to find a way of bringing those people back into the area of activities.”

Simpson said he had tried not to be offensive when writing the letter, but was “pretty matter of fact about things”.

A new NZMCA Hawke’s Bay committee is yet to be formed, and until it is, all planned NZMCA activities for the region have been cancelled.

Despite being removed as Hawke’s Bay committee chairman, Simpson remains an NZMCA member.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.