Bill Dalton

For many years I have been heavily involved in motor sport. I’m still involved on the edges and I’ve always been intrigued and amused by those people who buy houses next to a noisy race track and then complain about the noise. The situation at Western Springs in Auckland is a typical example. The track has been there for 80 or 90 years and yet people who bought houses there just 5 years ago are trying to have the track shut down. They don’t like the noise. Frankly they should have bought elsewhere.

And it’s a bit like that with some imports to Hawkes Bay. They come here for the climate and lifestyle and then immediately want to change the place to suit themselves.

Now I’m all for new blood coming to the Bay. You only have to look at the contribution that some have made to realize that we not only want these new settlers, we need them. But you only have to look at the core group of Better HB to realize that a lot of them are not native to the Bay. Presumably they came here because Hawkes Bay was a better place to live. Now they want to change it – strange isn’t it.

A typical example is a local blogger who suggests in a recent piece that the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce was telling us porkies when he presented to our council. According to this blogger, this was “diplomacy”. I don’t for one minute think the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce would tell lies during a formal presentation to the Napier City council and if he did, it would hardly amount to diplomacy. The blogger shows his poor moral judgement.

The same blogger also took to task a councillor (me) who, when extolling the need for action rather than yet another study, suggested we should get off our bums and do something. Our blogger agreed but suggested that I never would get off my bum and do something.

I find that bloody funny. Here’s a guy who has done nothing for the Bay or in the Bay except to constantly try and prove how clever he is. And he suggests that someone who has worked in the Bay for 40 years, who has employed up to 20 people at a time, all of whom have contributed to the Hawkes Bay economy in many ways, who has served countless sporting and cultural organizations – this person our blogger suggests, would never get off his bum and do something.

Still – you can’t be expected to know some of these things when you have only been here for 5 minutes.

Over the years Hawkes Bay leaders have commissioned literally dozens of reports on the economic and social future of the Bay. They have been done by Napier, Hastings, the Regional Council and various collective bodies like Vision 2020 and Venture HB. The most recent was done in 2007 and that report was refreshed in 2011 by a group led by the Regional Council. Funding for the 2011 report was provided by the Regional Council, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Regional Strategy Fund.

There has been hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on these reports and yet Lawrence Yule will tell us that we are still an economic and social basket case. And it is the same Lawrence Yule who now wants to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more of your money on yet another study.

For a while he had me convinced. For a while he had me thinking that a study might be worthwhile. But over the last couple of days I have re-read several of those reports and paid particular attention to the July 2011, Hawkes Bay Regional Economic Development Strategy – The Strategy Development Document. Frankly the work has been done.

Mayor Yule has written to try and convince us to support his call for a study. In that letter he used the analogy – you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

That’s interesting isn’t it. I presume Mayor Yule is saying that his predetermined result is an omelette and he will use whatever ingredients are required to produce the result he desires. And it is the same with his call for a study. The required predetermined result is a strong recommendation for amalgamation and he will put whatever resources into the campaign he deems necessary to achieve that result. Hence the call by Mayor Yule and his supporters for the study, their suggested terms of reference, their suggested timeline and the fact that they have made a strong call for their nominated study leader to be appointed.

And the silly thing is that we could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of your money on a report which results in no change. We know the economic side of things – that work has been done. And if there was a call for amalgamation as some hope there would be, then we would need to go to a referendum. There would be huge disruption as the pro and anti lobby’s squared off against each other. And if Napier ratepayers vote against amalgamation as polls suggest they will, what have we achieved? Nothing except a bad taste in mouths.

Frankly the time for studies and reports is in the past. What is needed in Hawkes Bay is for us all to get off our butts and to work in a unified way for the good of all.

The Chairman of the Hawkes Bay Regional Sports Park Trust has announced that an international hockey facility is to be built at their Hastings venue.

Hasting Mayor Lawrence Yule, is quoted as saying that they were careful not to detract from the Park Island facility and the Hastings turf would be used for practice and two internationals per year.

Does anyone believe that?

Does anyone believe that a tier one hockey facility would exist in Hawkes Bay and only be used for practice and twice a year for internationals?

And if there is anyone silly enough to believe that, are they also silly enough to believe that approximately four or five million dollars (depending on who you believe) of Hawkes Bay money is an appropriate amount to spend on such an under-utilized facility?

Again the public are being treated like fools and being told rubbish.

If the board of Hockey Hawkes Bay believe this is the best way forward for the sport in the Bay (and I don’t believe they are unanimous in that view) then I will accept the proposition. But I will never accept the absolute crap that was served up in the press release and the subsequent newspaper interviews.

I wonder how much study was undertaken before this decision was reached. It is common knowledge that following an approach from Hockey Hawkes Bay, the Napier City Council allocated half a million dollars towards a third turf at Park Island. Did the planners consider making that a tier one turf – if that’s what is required – and therefore consolidating all hockey facilities into one centre of excellence? A practice turf could also be situated in Hastings if required.

It is my strongly held view that building the No1 hockey turf in Hawkes Bay at the Hastings sports park will fragment the sport and result in a decline in competitive numbers. Sure it will be great to have a couple of internationals each year in Hawkes Bay (until someone builds a better facility) but most hockey players like to have a good hard game and then relax and socialize with a beer in the pavilion. Two facilities will detract from that.

Still it’s not all bad. The Napier City Council will now be able to re-allocate the funds previously targeted to hockey and provide those funds for codes that do want to grow at Park Island.

Footnote: Imagine the prosperity that could be brought to Hawkes Bay, if four or five million dollars was channeled through Business Hawkes Bay and used as an incentive for businesses to establish or re-establish themselves in the Bay.

It’s not very often I’m lost for words but at last Wednesday’s Napier City Council Tourism and Economic Development Committee meeting, I was simply stunned.

We were given a presentation by Doug Ducker and Murray Douglas representing Business Hawkes Bay. And what they told us, is that what Hawkes Bay needs is action. We don’t need any more reports that tell us what we should be doing or could be doing – the archives of all the councils are full of those. They told us what they are doing and what they are going to do. How refreshing is it to hear that!

Business Hawkes Bay is an initiative of the Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce. It combines the expertise and resources of the private sector and of all local bodies. Business Hawkes Bay is exactly what Hawkes Bay needs. Now we (all of Hawkes Bay including the elected representatives) need to acknowledge this excellent initiative by getting behind Business Hawkes Bay and ensuring their success.

I was particularly impressed with the enthusiasm shown by both Doug Ducker and Murray Douglas. They presented their case with almost missionary zeal. In Doug’s case, his business Pan Pac Forest Industries, will gain no direct benefit from the Business Hawkes Bay initiatives and yet his passion for Hawkes Bay is such that he is more that happy to put his and his company’s support behind the project. Murray, always an effusive and enthusiastic fellow, was in his element. He proudly told us of the projects already successfully undertaken, those currently underway and those planned for the future. There is more to come at the official launch of Business Hawkes Bay on the 29th of February.

Of course this positive path is going to put pressure on local bodies. It is pointless Business Hawkes Bay developing new business initiatives and attracting new businesses to the Bay, if we can’t provide them with land and services appropriate to their needs. So we need to work closely with Business Hawkes Bay to ensure we have industrial sites coming on stream now and over the next 20 years. And when these businesses become established in the Bay, there will be greater need for housing and we need to provide for that also.

We all need to start being positive about Hawkes Bay and Business Hawkes Bay is providing us with an appropriate rallying point. For too long we have been bombarded with everything that is negative about the Bay. It’s time we put that behind us. We need to accept the positive vision of Business Hawkes Bay and all work towards the same goal.

Business Hawkes Bay – the strong possibility of a water storage dam that will irrigate thousands of hectares – the downstream industries from that – the future for Hawkes Bay looks brighter by the day.