Dam moratorium end date decided

Against: Cr Debbie Hewitt was one of two councillors to oppose extending a moratorium on the dam until May 31.

Despite opposition from Central Hawke's Bay regional councillor Debbie Hewitt and Wairoa regional councillor Fenton Wilson, Hawke's Bay Regional Council agreed to a recommendation to maintain the moratorium on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme until May 31 this year.

The setting of a timeframe on the moratorium was requested by the Hawke's Bay Regional lnvestment Company (HBRIC) so that it could comply with its statutory obligations, and the May 31 date was timed to fall after the review of the dam project was completed, with an extra month allowed for the council to consider and respond to the review findings.

At yesterday's Hawke' Bay Regional Council meeting, group manager strategic development James Palmer said the review was on track to be completed by April, but there was less certainty on when a Supreme Court decision on the proposed land swap to allow the scheme to proceed would be made.

"It's unlikely the Supreme Court will make its decision within three months - it can take nine to 12 months, but they have granted some urgency with the timing of the hearings."

Mrs Hewitt asked if the review process could be sped up should the Supreme Court make a decision on the proposed land swap before the end of March.

Mr Palmer said he had concerns about bringing the end date of the review forward because of its scale and complexity.

"If the Supreme Court made a decision near the end of March and there was clarity about the land swap we could look at speeding up the review process, but we could discuss that when the time comes."

Apart from Mrs Hewitt and Mr Wilson, all other councillors agreed to the timeframe suggested.

The Supreme Court is set to hear the matter on February 27 and 28.

After discussing the moratorium, the council agreed to adopt a change to HBRIC's constitution to authorise an annual honorarium to be paid to council-elected directors Mrs Hewitt and Peter Beaven.

This payment would be $10,000 per councillor.

Council chairman Rex Graham said this amount was one agreed to in earlier discussions, where it had been resolved that council appointees would be paid the equivalent amount as was received by councillors who chaired committees.