Farming groups have come out fighting, voicing serious concern about the board’s draft decision. As it stands this will drive farming down and out and practically confine Hawkes Bay to one giant retirement village, says one group. They may not be too far wrong.
Others have tried to be polite, saying they want to “work with the decision”.
We hope it was not the board’s intention to wreck farming in the region, but somehow they appear to be on that course.
Notwithstanding the wailings of Fish and Game and others, farmers are not ‘anti’ the environment: they are as keen as anyone to get a sensible and practical solution. Even farmers these days admit we may need some pullback of intensification in some catchments.
The board hearing into the Ruataniwha proposal was aimed at getting a prompt decision, so to avoid years of litigation in the Environment Court which is not known for always getting things right either. The Horizons One Plan decision is a case in point.
The volume of submissions to the board of inquiry over Ruataniwha are unprecedented. Go to the EPA website and see for yourself.
The Government is keeping quiet about the draft decision as they must, but privately they may be wondering what on earth has gone wrong.
The expansion of water storage and irrigation is a vital item in the Government’s toolbox to double exports by 2025. If this decision in Hawkes Bay were to remain unchanged, it would drop a big spanner into the works.
Much is said about the gap between town and country. Bureaucracies and courts also perpetuate a gap – making decisions that are simply impractical, unworkable and bearing little worthwhile fruit.
It’s time for Government to oversee ‘further training’ of these seemingly untouchable people whose decisions can so change the lives of rural people.
