CHB councillors question co-operative deal

RESULTS? CHB district councillor David Tennent has labelled the Hawke's Bay region Triennial Agreement "bunkum and waffle".

Some Central Hawke's Bay district councillors have lashed out at a co-operative agreement between the wider Hawke's Bay's local government authorities, questioning its value and what it has achieved.

At a full council meeting last week, the CHB council was asked to sign the Hawke's Bay region's Triennial Agreement, a document aimed at increasing collaboration between the councils.

The primary signatories are the Napier City Council, CHB District Council, Hastings District Council, Wairoa District Council and the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

The Rangitikei District Council and Taupo District Council, whose boundaries bisect the Hawke's Bay region, are also included in the agreement, which was instigated as a requirement under the Local Government Act in 2002.

Areas identified for co-operation included the Hawke's Bay Local Authority Shared Service council-controlled organisation (HBLASS), the Matariki regional economic development strategy, civil defence and emergency management.

Before voting to sign the agreement last Thursday, CHB district councillors Ian Sharp and David Tennent questioned its worth.

"It's just a talk fest, a repetition of other things like this in Hawke's Bay," Mr Sharp said.
"If it gets actions and some of the ideals are acted on I am happy with it, but what are the consequences if we don't sign it?"

Mr Tennent labelled the agreement "bunkum and waffle".

"Just because it's a requirement under the act is no reason to have it. I'm disappointed to be presented with this a week before it's due to be signed off with no background on what's been achieved.

"Working together is fine but it needs to be targeted and have buy-in, not just ticked off."

Mayor Alex Walker said she would present the councillors' views to a mayoral forum that was held yesterday.

"I am very happy to go in and lead the conversation on our behalf in a positive and action-based way," she said.

Napier mayor Bill Dalton attended the mayoral forum and said the agreement was a good start to building greater collaboration.

"In my view it needs more work and some more guts built into it.

"At the forum we agreed to increase the number of meetings we have, there's a lot of things we need to co-operate on."

Although the document had been around for a long time, the parties signing it had not, he said.

There was a greater spirit of co-operation in play, something that had been called for by the pro-amalgamation lobby, he said.

"We were told that the Hawke's Bay economy was a basket case and that without amalgamation it would remain that way.

"In fact Hawke's Bay is on a roll and outperforming other regions.

"We probably don't need the triennial agreement but we think having it is worthwhile."

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule agreed that it was a useful framework, and confirmed that the mayors had agreed to have more regular meetings.

"The leaders are committed to doing things differently.

"People did not want amalgamation but wanted us to work together, and that's what we are doing irrespective of the agreement."

He said one area the mayors had agreed to focus on first was the management of drinking water across the entire region.