The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has extended the gravel extraction buffer zone in the Tukituki catchment, so farmers can use the gravel for critical cyclone-related farm repairs.
On July 1 this year Hawke’s Bay Regional Council issued a Controlled Area Notice for a section of both Tukituki and Waipawa rivers, which allowed farmers to extract gravel to address farm damage following Cyclone Gabrielle.
Regional council integrated catchment group manager Iain Maxwell said the council had assessed how the controlled area was working and was actively listening to feedback from the farming community.
“The farming community had expressed the controlled area in the catchment was not working for them. We went back and reviewed the access controls we had in place and where the extracted gravel was going. After this review, it was decided there was an acceptable level of risk associated with extending the area where the gravel can be used,” Maxwell said.
“I will emphasise that if an individual wants to take gravel from the catchment, they will still require a consent, as we need to understand where this gravel is going.”