Napier residents show 'support' for Ruataniwha Dam

BEAD COUNT: Martin Williams, a regional council candidate, has conducted a survey with coloured plastic beads which shows more Napier residents support the dam than oppose it. PHOTO WARREN BUCKLAND

Napier residents support the Ruataniwha Dam - that was the result of a survey conducted last week by a Hawke's Bay Regional Council candidate.

For nine hours last week, candidate Martin Williams stationed himself on Emerson St in the CBD and asked people their opinion on the dam.

While a lot of public commentary expressed concerns on the scheme, Mr Williams said he wondered if that accurately reflected Napier residents' opinion - as no one seemed to have taken a poll on the issue.

Mr Williams - who has stated he is for the dam "in principle" - said he did not display, or share his view on the scheme until after people had voted.

Although most said they were too busy, 281 people took part in the survey by dropping a coloured bead in a jar - with green for yes, red for no, and yellow for undecided. After five days, there were 130 green beads, 108 red, and 43 yellow.

With no claim of the survey being scientific, and allowing for a margin of error, Mr Williams said he thought the survey accurately reflected there was strong support in Napier for the dam.

Although "some people turned on their heels from 20m down the road and came back and with venom pushed a red bead as hard as they could into the red jar", he said others did the same to vote for the dam.

Incumbent Napier councillors said Mr Williams' results correlated with how they believed residents viewed the dam.

Councillor Dave Pipe said they lined up with some of the reaction he had received, adding there was still a lot of confusion and misinformation around the scheme.

"From a public point of view, the people that have thought about it and looked at the details, and thought about what the ramifications are of not having water storage," he said. "They understand where everything fits into place, and most of these people come across in support of the dam, provided the conditions are met."

Alan Dick, who is also a candidate, said based on his own intuition, and from talking to people, he felt more Napier residents supported than opposed the dam.

This was "overwhelmingly so around 12 months ago, but some of the events of the past year probably led to a little uncertainty. I think people are still in support of the dam, and as they should be," he said.

Mr Williams said he was encouraged at the level of support, as not everyone seemed to understand how dependent urban centres are on the primary sector.

"The region is not across this project and people have been confused by the mixed messages. They don't understand the details, they don't understand how the broader region could benefit, and many people don't understand the risks," he said.

"I think my over-riding take home from this is the need to ensure that Hawke's Bay is better informed and understands how the project fits into the council's vision for water management before the project proceeds."

This was something Mr Williams said he would "absolutely commit to" if elected next month.

Citing increased traffic through Napier port, additional discretionary spend in retail and services, Mr Williams said Napier would benefit if the scheme proceeded.

"I think it benefits across the board but I think people don't really appreciate that," he said. "We've got an economy that's currently 30 per cent dependent on the rural sector. The downstream benefits of this dam would most definitely flow into the urban centres."