Jul 3, 20234 min read

WWU’s Gren Christie writes open letter to Regional Council about $383K owed by WHHB

Updated: Jul 4, 2023

Gren Christie, founding member of Wise Water Use HB

The letter below was sent to all HB Regional Councillors prior to a Council meeting on Wednesday 28th where an agenda item was a debt of $382,956 owed by a private company, Water Holding Hawkes Bay (WHHB) .

The debt is for several years of 'science charges' which are levied each year against water consent holders in Hawkes Bay. The science charges are used to offset the considerable cost of freshwater science monitoring. The basis for the charges is that consent holders - who pay nothing for the water they use for their farming businesses - should contribute since they receive greater benefit from the science than the general public. These charges are budgeted for each year, so when not paid other budget items must be cut to make up the shortfall.

The agenda item was, however, removed at the 11th hour because Councillors were rightly concerned they had not seen the legal advice which informed the staff recommendation that all WHHB's science charges since July 2021 should be cancelled, leaving just $71,280 owed (i.e. a whooping $312K discount, thank you very much HB ratepayers), as reported here.

The matter of the science charges will be considered again by Council at their next meeting in late-July following a presentation from the legal firm who provided advice.

Wise Water Use HB are urging advocates and supporters to contact their local Councillor directly and tell them that this debt needs to be paid in full or, alternatively, seek to have your annual rates bill cancelled. A list of Councillors' contact details is provided further below.

Open Letter to Councillors (Hawkes Bay Regional Council)

This Wednesday (28th June 2023) HBRC will be making a decision over money owed to the ratepayers of Hawkes Bay by Water Holding HB (WHHB) Ltd

The question before the Council is simply what should be done about a private company who has failed to comply with their legal financial obligations to the people of Hawkes Bay.

Water Holdings HB is a group of business people who purchased the Ruataniwha Dam consents for $100,000

Those consents cost the ratepayer around $15 million or more and came with the obligation to pay annual science charges. WHHB knew their liabilities and now wish to renege on them.

The legal impediment to the consents becoming operational was in place when WHHB purchased the consents. The Supreme Court had ruled that the conservation land needed for the dam could not be flooded.

WHHB were fully aware of their obligations to pay the science charges but over several years have chosen to try and evade that responsibility.

This group of business people are gambling that the legal impediment can be removed .

If that happens the return on their $100 thousand will be in the millions . This fact alone defines the investors in this project as speculators no matter how else they may wish to present their motives.

Some Councillors and staff may take the view that WHHB are pursuing the Ruataniwha Dam for the betterment of the environment and community. If the betterment of the environment and the community was their motive they would be the loudest voice in the room speaking up about the squandering of water and the pollution from intensive dairy in CHB, this is not the case.

I doubt there is an environmental scientist in the country who will say damming rivers is good for the environment.

The Regional Water Assessment report tells us the CHB has the highest use of water per capita for the lowest return.

The subjective view of sitting Councillors or staff on whether or not they support WHHB’s ambitions should not come into this.

If this private Company fails to pay their debt and their consents are cancelled as a result, the blame for that is squarely on the shoulders of that Company and its Directors, not the Councillors who are only fulfilling their oath of office.

A negative precedent would be allowing the subjective view of the worthiness of an investor or speculator’s plans to be a factor in letting them evade their financial liabilities after having obtained the Consent.

If the public good or some other point is to be argued for financial dispensation that argument should be publicly presented before the consent is granted.

We ratepayers in HB are all going to face a rate increase because of the impact of Gabrielle.

Now is not the time to grant financial relief to a group of business people because of their own business decisions.

There can be no doubt that such a decision would cause great anger amongst those struggling to come to terms with the emotional and financial costs of Gabrielle . If all of us could evade our financial responsibilities and not pay our dues to the HBRC then HBRC would cease to function.

Gren Christie

(Founding member, Wise Water Use HB)

Contact you local Regional Councillor now:

Hinewai Ormsby (Chair)

Ahuriri/Napier

Cr.Hinewai.Ormsby@hbrc.govt.nz

021 0770088

Will Foley

(Deputy Chair)

Tamatea/CHB

Cr.Will.Foley@hbrc.govt.nz

027 4996947