By Alexa Cook of RNZ
A plan for future housing in Hawke’s Bay has sparked controversy over its proposal to use productive food-growing land and low-lying areas at risk of flooding.
The Heretaunga Plains spread over 300 sq km, from the hill’s of Hawke’s Bay out to the coastline, and much of the area is a patchwork of crops and farms covering the fertile food producing soils which have formed over millions of years.
Richard Gaddum formed the Save the Plains Group five years ago to try and protect the soils and prevent the urban sprawl from Hastings and Napier eating up precious and productive land.
“They are very special because we’ve got the best soils in the world, I believe, for growing food ... and we’ve got the best climate,” he said.
The National Policy Statement on High Productive Land became law in 2022. It aims to protect elite Class one, two and three soils across the country.
So Gaddum was shocked to see Hastings and Napier’s urban development plans under the Future Development Strategy include nearly 365ha of those soils.
“This sort of behaviour really can’t continue. We can’t keep doing this ... Napier has done it and their land is all gone.
“It’s time for us to rethink this and move in a new direction, we build up we don’t build out and we build on unproductive land. It just makes sense,” he said.
Councillor Neil Kirton also opposes the FDS, as he is concerned about houses being built in flood-risk areas, such as a controversial site at Riverbend Road in Napier, where a 660 house development is being proposed. It has flooded twice in three years and is a critical flood path for when the city’s stormwater system exceeds capacity.
But Napier City Council voted to keep the site in the strategy.
“I just cannot accept there has been sufficient analysis done of the proposal to ensure the flooding can be mitigated - it’s a fairytale to believe that sort of mitigation can be put in place,” said Kirton.
Council planning and consenting decisions are now under scrutiny in the post-Cyclone Gabrielle coronial inquiry into 12 deaths.
Kirton worries that Hawke’s Bay councils are gambling with peoples' lives by ignoring the flood risk of proposed new housing developments.
“The people in charge here, the councils, including the regional council, have got to get their heads together and make sure these things don’t happen again,” he said.
But Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise is confident the flood risk can be mitigated for the Riverbend Road site.
“It’s actually at resource consent stage already in terms of the level of information that’s been provided, that’s why I felt that we did need to include it as part of the consultation on the future development strategy,” she said.
As the region’s population continues to grow, local councils are grappling with where to expand residential areas.
A development that both Gaddum and the mayor agree is a good example of a new Greenfield site is the Mission Hills project. The 207ha of farmland - above Mission Estate Winery - is home to a new development of up to 800 homes, away from the fertile soils of the Heretaunga Plains.
Wise pointed to that as evidence the council is listening to local concerns, and said it was also looking at building up, not just out.
“We are also very focused on intensification in existing urban areas, however to meet our total growth requirements we do also need to have potential greenfield sites in the mix,” she said.
But Save the Plains Group is calling for the FDS to be scrapped.
“If we keep going on the way we are our food production areas are going to shrink, and the ultimate end scenario is we are going to have to import food to feed ourselves - and that is absolute nonsense,” Gaddum said.
He has urged the public to educate themselves on the Future Development Strategy and have their say before public submissions close on December 23.
- RNZ
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