Forest and Bird not happy with Ruataniwha scheme response

Water Holdings CHB Ltd director Tim Gilbertson

Forest and Bird is disappointed with the "less than transparent" response it says it received to an official information request about the sale of the intellectual property and assets of the Ruataniwha Water Storage scheme (RWSS) to Water Holdings CHB Ltd.

But Water Holdings CHB director and former CHB mayor and regional councillor, farmer Tim Gilbertson, says the conservation group are merely "fishing" for anything controversial about the sale, in an attempt to bolster its profile.

Gilbertson revealed in a Talking Point in this newspaper last week that Forest and Bird had lodged an official request for all communications between his company and Hawke's Bay Regional Council (HBRC) and HBRIC, council's investment arm and promoters of the stalled water storage scheme.

An HBRC email confirms Forest and Bird lodged the request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) on July 2, the day it was announced that Gilbertson and his fellow company directors Gavin Streeter and Hugh Ritchie had purchased the rights to the scheme from HBRIC for $100,000 — a mere fraction of the $20 million of regional ratepayers' money invested in the project before it was shelved.

In a statement announcing the sale, HBRC said Water Holdings CHB had purchased the rights to the scheme following a process which publicly called for expressions of interest.

Forest and Bird Hawke's Bay regional manager Tom Kay said his organisation lodged the LGOIMA request seeking information about the tender process and negotiations.

"Because this is a matter that is of high interest to the public, and relating to an issue that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Forest and Bird made a request for official information on the tender process and negotiations.

"We consider the response we received to be less than transparent, and we're following it up," he said.

The scheme stalled when the Supreme Court ruled that a landswap deal needed for the Ruataniwha Dam dam to go ahead, which would have resulted in 22ha of protected Ruahine Forest Park land being exchanged for 170ha of land from nearby Smedley Station and then flooded, was unlawful.

Following that, the regional council decided not to invest further in the scheme and subsequently wrote down the value of its investment in recognition of the impediments to its viability.

An email from HBRC's principal governance advisor Leeanne Hooper reveals the regional council responded to Forest and Bird's LGOIMA request on July 17.

Forest and Bird first requested all written letters, emails, texts, and records of phone calls between staff or board members of HBRIC and the three directors of Water Holdings CHB Ltd, or their legal representatives, in relation to the sale.

Hooper denied that request in accordance Section 2 of the LGOIMA Act "to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence".

Forest and Bird then made the same request for all correspondence between the regional council and the three directors, or their lawyers, about the sale.

However Hooper replied that because the regional council was not party to the sale/purchase process, it held "no information in that regard."

Forest and Bird then asked for any correspondence between the regional council, or HBRIC staff or board members, and the three directors, or their lawyers, about the establishment of Water Holdings CHB Ltd.

Hooper again replied HBRC held "no information in that regard" as it was not party to the establishment of the company.

She said the formation of Water Holdings CHB was independent of HBRIC, which provided no advice or guidance on this matter, other than the chief executive of HBRIC calling the company during the week ending June 22 "seeking verbal confirmation of the company and its shareholders".

"Written confirmation was subsequently provided... In addition, HBRIC conducted its own company search of the companies register prior to receiving the written confirmation," Hooper replied.

Finally, Forest and Bird asked whether any of the scheme's expiring resource consents had been renewed before sale went ahead.

Hooper replied that, as outlined in a public advertisement calling for expressions of interest which she attached in the email, the scheme's assets were offered "on an as-is basis, meaning no further work or variations to the pre-existing consents was undertaken."

Tim Gilbertson said his company had nothing to hide.

"Forest and Bird are fishing.

"Water Holdings CHB wants to investigate water storage for the benefit of CHB before global warming clobber[s] the region.

"Nothing has changed except the consents no longer belong to [HBRIC].

"I assume Forest and Bird are looking for publicity to bolster their membership and profile, having changed from a group dedicated to conservation into a political lobby group like Fish & Game and Greenpeace.

"Tragic really," Gilbertson said.