Editorial: Let the facts show the dam way forward

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

It is good to see that the newly elected Hawke's Bay Regional Council has come to a unanimous agreement on a review to be conducted on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

Yes, all the councillors, including the three pro-dam advocates Fenton Wilson, Alan Dick and Debbie Hewitt, agreed at the first ordinary meeting of the new council yesterday that the review should go ahead.

Finally the councillors are all in this together, albeit potentially reluctantly in some instances, and are looking at ways to work to find a solution to the situation they find themselves in.

It is quite a tricky one. Voters in Napier and Hastings almost certainly gave anti-dam candidates Paul Bailey, Rex Graham, Rick Barker and Tom Belford, a mandate by electing them. However, this is all against the backdrop of what actually and legally can be done.

As has been stated many times, it is not simply a case of the council taking a vote and rejecting the dam. I don't think that would be fair or make any sense at all. Also, one should not forget that Central Hawke's Bay candidate Debbie Hewitt was also given a mandate for the dam.

Yesterday's meeting, which apparently got quite tense at times, saw all the councillors agree to commission an independent review of key contractual, legal, financial, economic, and environmental elements of the RWSS, including the impacts and consequences of implementing plan change six with, and without it, as well as withdrawal from the scheme.

The phrase being used is that voters want a pause for "a cup of tea".

I believe this is the common sense approach to take. It is not about taking an emotional decision of being pro or anti the dam. It is about having all the facts laid on the table in an open and transparent way so that we, and the councillors in particular, can see what is the best way forward.

If the review indicates that the dam is going to be the game-changer for our region that brings economic prosperity, then go for it, but if the numbers, both financially and environmentally, don't stake up, then the councillors need to heed that warning.

So, anyone for a cuppa?