Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Councillor wants referendum

By by Sophie Price
Hawkes Bay Today·
28 Dec, 2015 04:16 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Simon Nixon

Simon Nixon

A referendum should be held so the Hastings community can make a decision on the Hawke's Bay Opera House, says Hastings District councillor Simon Nixon.

Speaking about the upcoming public consultation process on the project, Mr Nixon said he did not believe such a process would offer a reliable indication of community support.

"Such processes tend to flush out the people who have a strong view generally in support of whatever project it is," he said.

"A referendum or some sort of more meaningful survey - maybe a really good survey - would meet the same need."

He said referendums were held on both the sale of Nelson Park for large-format retail and on the groynes for shoreline protection at Te Awanga.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"But we are not giving people that sort of option with the Opera House or Civic Square or the hotel projects," he said.

"And actually, they are going to cost more than any of those other things."

He said with $20 million set aside for the project, the public consultation would come at a cost to ratepayers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"[Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule] is saying we have put aside $20 million. No we haven't put aside $20 million," said Mr Nixon.

"We have put in the budget a plan to borrow $20 million which could be used for the Opera House.

"It actually wasn't set aside specifically for the Opera House - it came out of the Civic Square project."

He said the $20 million figure was a concern to him, because it was more than what was required to strengthen the Opera House.

Discover more

Viewing platform a hit for most

29 Dec 07:52 PM

"They only should be talking about $10 million or $11 million if they are only talking about the Opera House," he said.

"So they have in fact included these other projects by somewhat devious means by talking about $20 million.

"So I think the whole process is designed to achieve the outcome that some people want, and they are not willing to risk that outcome to a more effective public consultation."

Mr Nixon said he thought the level of support for strengthening the Opera House was greater than for the Civic Square and Municipal Building projects.

"I mean, the Opera House is already built and a lot of people say it should be fixed," he said.

"Civic Square is not built and it is going to cost a lot of money, and I don't think it will bring huge advantages in terms of what it has got to offer."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Nixon thought the council needed to concentrate on the Opera House first and decide whether or not it should be restored.

"I am reasonably open-minded, I don't have a strong view. I don't go to the Opera House that often but a lot of people want to fix it up. I think we have got to acknowledge that," he said.

"I would actually like to see us conduct a referendum because I think that is one way to find out what people are thinking."

At the end of the day, if the community came out overwhelmingly in favour of spending the money on the Opera House, Mr Nixon said he would not have a problem supporting it.

"But we need to make sure that this is the best use of the money for the ends we are trying to achieve."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

11 Jul 04:03 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

11 Jul 01:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

10 Jul 09:05 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

Hawke’s Bay club rugby: Napier’s McLean Park to host 3 finals

11 Jul 04:03 AM

Two Māori All Blacks to play in Maddison Trophy final.

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

Fire in Flaxmere garage sends plume of black smoke skyward

11 Jul 01:10 AM
Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

Mahia Hunt holds final fixture after marking 125th anniversary

10 Jul 09:05 PM
Premium
The humour history of Don Martin: Wyn Drabble

The humour history of Don Martin: Wyn Drabble

10 Jul 07:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP