The “Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill” aims to allow the Society to use money from the Tōmoana Showgrounds sale as they wish. Photo / Warren Buckland
The “Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill” aims to allow the Society to use money from the Tōmoana Showgrounds sale as they wish. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke’s Bay’s A & P Society has passed the first of several hurdles in Parliament to gain the legal freedom to use money from the Tōmoana Showgrounds sale as they wish.
A & P Society members voted to accept Hastings District Council’s offer to purchase 40 of the42 hectares of the showground for $7.5m in June, with ownership officially transferring on April 1, 2023.
However, a 114-year-old law currently prevents the A & P Society from investing the proceeds into anything besides the purchase of other land.
The Agricultural and Pastoral Societies Act 1908 requires the society to invest money received from any sale of showground land into the purchase of other land suitable for the purposes of the society.
Both Hastings District Council and A & P Society General Manager Elisha Milmine earlier stated that they were aware of the act before the sale agreement.
Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Meka Whaitiri agreed to sponsor the “Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Association Empowering Bill” to remove the legal restriction, and the bill was publicly notified in October and introduced last month.
A statement from Whaitiri on Thursday confirmed the bill passed its first reading and will now be considered by a select committee.
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck and Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Meka Whaitiri shepherded the A&P Society Empowering bill through its first reading in parliament. Photo / Meka Whaitiri
Whaitiri said she and Tukituki MP Anna Lorck had “shepherded” the bill through with the support of the House.
She said the existing provisions limited the A & P Society.
“The Society is seeking to change these requirements because the sale allows it to achieve long-term financial sustainability, while still having 10 days of annual free use of the Showgrounds in perpetuity to run major events,” she said in a statement.
The bill has been referred to the Governance and Administration Select Committee, which will report back to the House in April.
After that, the bill will have to go through a second reading, a committee of the house, and finally a third reading.
With the sale on April 1 next year, the society keeps 2.8ha bounded by the Hawke’s Bay Railway and Kenilworth, Karamu and Elwood roads.
A council spokesperson has previously said the matter was investigated and shared between council and the Hawkes Bay A & P Society and included as a condition of the sale and purchase agreement which was signed in May 2022.
There are clauses in the sale and purchase agreement regarding any delays with the bill going through Parliament, the spokesperson said.
As part of the deal, the Showgrounds are to be designated as a reserve managed by a trust with representatives of the A & P Society, council, and nearby Waipatu Marae.
