“I cannot let go unchallenged the article in the Dominion Post, Saturday, 4 September 2010 headlined ‘Councillors hard of hearing, long winded’.
“It quotes anecdotal and hearsay comments from a report commissioned to look at Resource Consent hearings processes (the Cowie Report), which was legitimately considered by the Council in Committee following its delivery to Council in September 2009.
“But clearly it has been leaked to the media now to create mischief leading up to the October local body elections.
“It is debateable whether any of the comments about personalities should have been in the report at all. Its purpose was to develop recommendations for process improvements, which were adopted by the Council and have been put into effect. The Council did not endorse or accept the comment made about personalities.
“Accordingly, I wish to confirm that I have full confidence in the Hearings Committee and its members, all of whom are qualified Hearings Commissioners.
“It is unfair to describe Cr Christine Scott’s chairing of the Committee as ‘cumbersome or long winded’. The Consents Hearings process is semi-judicial, the price of failure is costly challenges to decisions in the Environmental Court, and so processes must be rigorous and thorough. Cr Scott’s dedication, wide knowledge and attention to detail, makes her ideal for the position of Committee Chair.
“It is grossly unfair to imply that Cr Ewan McGregor ‘does not contribute strongly’ and is ‘hard of hearing’. Certainly he has a hearing aid to compensate for some hearing loss, but as a Hearings Commissioner and as a Councillor, he is hard working, highly experienced in governance and uses his great endowment of common sense to make very sound decisions.
“It is not fair to state that Cr Remmerswaal ‘does not have the full confidence of the Chair’. This is one matter that was remedied by the Council with the Chairman (Cr Scott) advising that Cr Remmerswaal did have her confidence. It is important, too, that Committee members bring their different perspectives to bear in order to make good decisions, which reflect different community aspirations. Cr Remmerswaal does have a strong commitment to the environment and wide community connections, which complement the balance of views in the Committee.
“Cr von Dadelszen is a valuable member of the Committee being widely experienced, a professionally qualified resource management planner and, contrary to the report’s assertion, does work well professionally with Cr Scott.
“Finally, in terms of personalities, the Council does not employ its Chief Executive or myself, for that matter, to spend time being spectators in Consent Hearings. We have other things to do and have confidence that our professional staff and Councillors responsible for hearings will do their jobs competently without having to be watched over.
“The true measure of the Council’s Hearings Committee is that it has successfully processed a high amount of consents work. In all, 369 resource consents encompassing a wide variety of activities have been deliberated on over the term of this Council.
“Despite a number of these decisions being appealed to the Environment Court, not one decision has been successfully overturned.
“This is a clear indication that the Hearings Committee is making thorough and lawful decisions which strike the right balance for the community. As well, this has been done on a cost effective basis avoiding the considerable cost to ratepayers and consent applicants of defending decisions in the Environment Court.
“Group Manager Resource Management, Darryl Lew, has informed Council that the majority of the notified consents were for water takes, and that the latest Ministry for the Environment survey confirms that hearing costs to Hawke’s Bay applicants are below the national median and cheaper than most other Regional Councils.”
- Alan Dick, Chairman Hawke’s Bay Regional Council |