BayBuzz Nov/Dec 2013

LEGAL highs bringing us down POLITICS Post-Election

HEALTH care

NOV/ DEC 2013

INCLUDING GST

Is Bloody Hard

HASTINGS

CBD dead or alive?

VOICES

Lawrence Yule, Claire Hague Anthony Vile, Maxine Boag Adrienne Pierce, Michael Whittaker Phyllis Tichinin, Kay Bazzard Fane Flaws, Brendan Webb

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Destination Hawke’s Bay Or is it Napier or Hastings?

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772253

262009

by keith newman

FROM THE EDITOR

I congratulate each of the councillors elected to the next term, and look forward to working constructively with them.

A question that some have asked is what effect my election will have on BayBuzz or my role with it.

In short, BayBuzz will continue in both its online and magazine versions, hopefully getting better and presenting more diverse content and authorship of the highest standard as we go. BayBuzz will continue to raise the tough questions and pose alternatives about the direction of Hawke’s Bay. Will BayBuzz cease to cover councils’ issues and performance?

Absolutely not. And where I or any of our expanding team of writers have a point of view on these matters, those will be readily apparent and open to your comment.

Challenging Times!

BY ~ tom belford

For the first time, I am writing this column while holding elected office as a regional councillor.

So the first order of business is to thank the 7,256 voters in the Hastings constituency who have given me their confidence and to assure all residents throughout Hawke’s Bay that I am mindful of my responsibility to pursue the best interests of the entire region.

I also want to thank publicly the small army who supported my campaign – putting up signs, offering billboard locations, leafleting, making contributions, door knocking, creating online buzz, even participating in a tractor rally – and who were essential to our success. In Reflections on the Hustings (p.18), I offer some thoughts on the foibles and lessons of campaigning.

As a candidate, I advanced a strong critique of the incumbent regional council, and I am encouraged that so many agreed.

Expectations have been lifted and I look forward to the challenge of meeting them.

But changing the culture of the HB Regional Council, rebuilding confidence in it, and redirecting its path will require the persistent and collective efforts of a majority of councillors, if not all nine. Rest assured, I will be one of those pressing most energetically for change.

I will continue to write about the politics and issues I observe, no differently than thousands of officeholders around the world – John Key and Bill Dalton, for example – who express their views today via blogs, email newsletters, social media and print. Indeed, I’d argue that more of my elected colleagues should get out from under their rocks, embrace the times and inform and seek more robust exchange with their constituents via such media. I see that as one antidote to low public interest in local government and majority non-voting.

Personally, I am particularly interested in the water and energy futures of Hawke’s Bay, as well as our opportunities to build a more diversified and resilient regional economy.

You can expect to see much of my editorial contribution to BayBuzz focusing in those areas.

And I will continue to strongly advocate amalgamation, having seen, over six years of close-up monitoring, too much dysfunction, wasted energy and resources by councils and the community, and missed opportunity arising from our present governance arrangements.

As an active business owner who happens to publish a magazine, I expect to be no more conflicted on public issues than a councillor who happens to grow asparagus or fruit trees or sheep, or who operates a pub or an accounting business.

Finally, as a councillor, I will fully respect the official confidences inherent in serving as an officeholder with respect to matters or information dealt with in publicexcluded sessions or protected as confidential under relevant legislation. That said, I will push relentlessly for greater transparency and disclosure of public information.

How will the reading public regard all this? That will depend upon the integrity with which we publish BayBuzz and with which I handle my duties. And ultimately that’s a judgment readers and voters will make.

Tom Belford

ISSUE No.15 : NOV / DEC 2013

THIS MONTH What can we do locally about sale of synthetic highs? A health check on the state of Hawke’s Bay tourism. Local body elections are over … what’s the campaign trail like … and now what? Hawke’s Bay’s healthcare challenges.

How about on-farm storage instead of a dam? Where is urban development in HB headed?

FEATURES 34

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Legal Highs

Legal synthetic drugs wreak personal and community havoc. Jessica Soutar Barron reports on their use in Hawke’s Bay.

BLOODY HARD DECISIONS

By Tom Belford Major healthcare challenges ahead.

A conversation with DHB Chair Kevin Atkinson.

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DISTRICT PLAN REVIEW ... a balancing act

By Anthony Vile It’s dry, heavy reading, but the draft Hastings District Plan, now in public consultation, will guide development for the next ten years.

Mandy Jensen phone 027-593-5575 Mandy Jensen manages advertising and store sales for BayBuzz. She's worked in print media in the Bay for 20 years or so (Wow!).

In her leisure you can spot Mandy walking or cycling one of the numerous tracks throughout Hawke's Bay or sipping hot chocolates in any number of cafes.

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Now The Real Politicking Begins The billboards are down. Tom Belford reviews the results and looks at the political controversies ahead.

Destination Hawke’s Bay

ISSN 2253-2625 (Print) ISSN 2253-2633 (Online)

This publication uses vegetable based inks and environmentally responsible papers. The document is printed throughout on Sumo K Matt, which is FSC® certified and from responsible souces, manufactured under ISO 14001 Environmental management Systems.

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Or Is It Napier or hastings?

Keith Newman suggests our fragmented tourism industry needs more than rural charm, art deco memories and clinking wine glasses to thrive.

nov/dec 2013

contributors > JESS SOUTAR BARRON Jess is a wordsmith and project manager whose past gigs have included time with Sky TV, Hastings District Council and Band, as well as three years as a communications manager with the Metropolitan Police Service. She also produces Fruit Bowl Craft Jam and Pecha Kucha in the Bay.

IDEAS & OPINIONS

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

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40

I REJECT THE STATUS QUO Lawrence Yule

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BECOMING ‘THE GREATEST LITTLE VILLAGE IN THE WORLD’ Adrienne Pierce

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THE RIGHT PEOPLE …

WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE. Maxine Boag

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ON-FARM WATER STORAGE Phyllis Tichinin

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DIGITAL TOURISTS DIG DEEPER Keith Newman

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BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES: DOES A FARMER REALLY EVER RETIRE? Kay Bazzard

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BLOODY MINDED OPINION

KEITH NEWMAN Keith is a journo with nearly 40-years’ experience across mainstream and trade media.

He’s won awards for writing about hi-tech, produces Musical Chairs programmes for Radio NZ and has published four books, one on the internet in New Zealand and three others on New Zealand history.

MARK SWEET Napier-born, Mark worked overseas in Hong Kong and Scotland, before returning to Hawke's Bay, and establishing Pacifica restaurant.

Re-creating himself as a writer, Mark's first novel Zhu Mao was published in 2011; an extract from his next novel, Of Good and Evil, has been short-listed for the Pikihuia Awards, and is due for publication early 2014.

Fane Flaws

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HIGH WATER MARK Brendan Webb

CELEBRATING RURAL EDUCATION Claire Hague

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HASTINGS CBD … A REVITALISATION IN MOTION

TOM BELFORD Tom’s past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organization, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major nonprofits and corporates.

Tom publishes BayBuzz and writes an acclaimed blog for professional NGO fundraisers and communicators in North America and Europe.

Michael Whittaker

BAYBUZZ POSTAL: PO Box 8322, Havelock North

THE BAYBUZZ TEAM >

All BayBuzz magazine articles are available online. Visit BayBuzz at:

EDITOR Tom Belford Senior writers Jessica Soutar Barron, Keith Newman, Mark Sweet, Tom Belford columnists Anthony Vile, Brendan Webb, Claire Hague, David Trubridge, Kay Bazzard, Paul Paynter, Phyllis Tichinin, Robyn McLean, Roy Dunningham editor’s right hand Brooks Belford photography Tim Whittaker ILLUSTRATOR Brett Monteith creative, design & production Steff @ Ed art assistant Julia Jameson advertising sales & distribution Mandy Jensen Online Mogul business manager Bernadette Magee printing Format Print

www.baybuzz.co.nz

Letters to the Editor We encourage readers to criticize, expand upon or applaud our articles as they see fit.

All of our magazine articles are published online – www.baybuzz.co.nz – where you can always comment … at any length and as often as you like.

But we are also happy to publish a limited number of readers’ letters here. You can email us at editors@baybuzz.co.nz or mail us at BayBuzz, PO Box 8322, Havelock North.

The Environmental Revolution Ewan McGregor’s article has a point.

We have come a long way from the 1800s, and yes, back then there was a level of naivety about the environment.

However, Mr McGregor has rosetinted glasses on. Armed with the knowledge that we now know about the environment and ecosystems (or knowledge we should be gaining by researching) – are we doing enough for the environment? I think not.

Mr McGregor’s examples of Pekapeka Wetland and Cape Sanctuary show good examples of people’s initiative and a lot of hard work. These places serve very well for environmental education and public awareness, but are not examples of ‘natural ecosystems’ we still have left. Wetlands (which include rivers/seepages with natural flows and good water quality) are scarce in New Zealand and even more so in Hawke’s Bay. We should be mindful of what we have left and how best to look after these ecosystems without further modification or loss.

Dr Amelia McQueen

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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Fluoride & the dam Thank you for your timely articles, comments and ideas.

Hooray for votes in favour of fluoride … In our family of four children my teeth and those of two of my brothers suffered considerable decay, but the youngest who was only five when we moved to Hastings, and is now 66, has very few fillings and all his own teeth …

Oil & Gas in Hawke’s Bay

HBRC Stonewalls on Dam

[BayBuzz blog, 10 OCT]

[BayBuzz blog, 29 SEP]

It is becoming increasingly accepted (and openly discussed) that in order to stay within 2 degrees of warming we will only be able to burn around a quarter of our existing known oil and gas reserves.

Thank God you have the time and can understand the processes at work (under-handed, under-minded, underestimated) by HBRC and their cohorts. As a village dweller at the mouth of the Tukituki River I certainly do not want to watch the river diminish in health and vitality and eventually turn obviously toxic, it’s purity already massively in question.

So, assuming we decide to seriously address climate change, around threequarters of those known reserves will be stranded assets on the books of the companies who currently “own” them. http://www.carbontracker.org/ wastedcapital Unless we somehow think that oil and gas found in NZ will be “better” than the stuff we already have access to we are assisting in the creation of assets that won’t be used. How daft is that?

Graeme Norton Really good article, thank you.

Charlotte Orr And of course any of those souls who spend as much time roaming the internet as i do will have come across some of the info about energy, which does not rely on oil. Of course most will say – Rubbish, Conspiracy Theory – discussion ended!

But a bit of a search of history will show the range and scope of neat inventions that have been quietly buried so as not to disturb the status quo!

Yes, all this rain runs out to sea and I can understand the concept of storing water to use before that happens, but there must be a better way. Maybe smaller dams to catch rainfall and back up from the main waterways if and when they get too low.

My main concern though is to change farming practises that work in with our changing climate not try to out run the race.

Many thanks again for your continual hard work.

Paula van der Meer

Collin Blackman Nice work Tom, I see your objectivity has returned. And I don’t mean that rudely.

Kudos

Xan Harding

Hawke’s Bay is privileged to have your passionate, analytical BayBuzz.

There is nothing else like BayBuzz in NZ at the local government level.

And finally, drilling for oil! Shouldn’t we be encouraging alternatives to oil?

Clear and sensible comments there, Tom. Thanks. I especially noted that we have time on our side – the resource is not going away.

Unfortunately these things can get driven through at out-of-control speed, because executives and politicians know their own days are numbered… they want to leave a legacy, get reelected, achieve a bonus target…. and the speed wobbles start.

Beth Boag (Abridged)

Jenny Elliott

We are deeply concerned about the dam! Your articles about pasture quality, leaching and the means to address the related problems are thought provoking.

The increased chemicals being applied to the land for more intensive farming both agriculture and horticulture needs to be questioned in terms of the effect on the human consumption.

Nick McMaster

Legal Highs Consumers call the products legal highs or 'legals'. Psychoactive substances is the preferred term of the police.

The same substances are also referred to as synthetic cannabis or cannabinoids, or 'synthetics'. Jessica Soutar Barron reports on their use in Hawke’s Bay.

legal highs

Saturday 14 September, 2013 At the Blossom Parade, a young boy assaults a middle-aged man. The boy ends up in police custody. It's found he's high on a legal psychoactive substance.

During the week following, Hastings district councillors meet with local residents and retailers to discuss the issue of 'legal highs'. Mayor Lawrence Yule flies to Wellington to talk with Health Minister Tony Ryall. Pink signs appear in shop windows declaring the desire for a "Drug Free CBD".

Two weeks after the Blossom Parade bashing a rally takes place in the centre of Hastings. Placards, chants and speakers all call for legal highs to be taken "off our streets", for Government to wake up and take action.

What led up to that moment when a 12-year-old boy unleashed enough aggression on an adult man to knock him to the ground and stamp on his face with so much force his shoe print could be seen on the man's cheek some time after? Does responsibility lie with the boy's parents? With authorities?

Legal drug sellers? Police? Politicians?

Is the issue of legal psychoactive substances and their many effects on our community as simple as the Government banning them completely?

Are agencies doing enough to keep youth safe? Now that the issue is in the spotlight, what happens next?

“I don't understand the Government logic of legalising the sale as opposed to an out and out ban. The whole situation is arse about face.” councillor cynthia bowers

same page as local government and their desire for a safe and vibrant city and I fully understand their frustration.

The ultimate fix is people knowing they don't need to do it in the first place."

The Youth Worker Kevin Tamati is the coordinator of the Hawke's Bay Community Action Youth and Drugs (CAYAD). He is positive the actions already taken by the Government are robust enough, that the real issue lies with "bored youth".

Tamati believes the products should be included in the current LAP process (Local Alcohol Plan). In an open letter on the subject he says, "Keeping the sale of these substances to the CBD is a good idea. If people have to queue outside a sex shop then so be it. At least they are demonstrating a desire to obey the law."

The real issue is why people, and his particular focus is youth, feel the need to take such substances in the first place, whether it's alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or legal highs.

Tamati knows the key is to help youth build a passion for an activity that becomes more addictive than these substances.

"When you become passionate about things it's quite easy to become addicted," says Tamati.

"It's about creating an opportunity – kapahaka, performing arts, sport – that these kids can move forward in and be a success at."

Tamati believes the issue of psychoactive substances is in a better place than it was before the Psychoactive Substances Act was passed, even though Continued on Page 8

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

The Politicians Deputy Mayor Cynthia Bowers was one of the councillors who organised the rally at the clock tower.

"I have always known in the back of my mind that synthetic drugs are a bad thing, but what happened at the Blossom Parade really made me angry.

It detracted from all the good things we had done and we realised how serious synthetic drugs could be," says Bowers.

"The politicians will tell you it's a police matter. But they are under pressure and they're not about to stand around the back doors of sex shops waiting for young people to come out."

Hastings District Council has now adopted a draft Local Approved Products Policy (LAPP), which is out for consultation until early November.

It is the local response to the central Government’s new psychoactive substances legislation.

The LAPP proposes psychoactive substances are only sold in the central commercial zone (CBD) and not within 100 metres of a church, school or early childcare centre.”

"The problem with our policy,"

says Cynthia Bowers, "is that we have lumbered our CBD with retailers of synthetic drugs and it just adds to the woes of the CBD." Bowers is circulating a petition that calls for Government to ban psychoactive substances totally.

"A rally isn't enough. We need a continual series of actions to get things done."

If the petition isn't enough either, Bowers says, Hastings District Council could promote a local ban to Government. It would need to be prepared and then sponsored by an MP – a local bill can override the legislation.

"I don't understand the Government logic of legalising the sale as opposed to an out and out ban. The whole situation is arse about face: We have for sale something that hasn't been tested, and we have legalised something that has terrible side effects."

"We're not doing very well managing the legal drugs we have like alcohol and cigarettes, why would we add another?" asks Bowers.

Local MP Craig Foss calls for patience.

"Very little can happen instantaneously. Getting things right needs to be measured and methodical ... process is paramount because you can be taken to court by the people who make the stuff, so you have got to follow process."

Foss explains that up until July 2013 there were 200 to 300 different substances for sale at all sorts of places, including most neighbourhood dairies. In July, 119 MPs across all parties voted for legislation that led to the number of ‘approved’ substances decreasing to 28, which are only for sale in R18 stores – around 100 nationwide. In Hawke's Bay there are three outlets with one more license pending.

"It's quite easy to point to that man selling that stuff and say it is causing all these other ills in our society. People have tried to lay the blame at the feet of the Government, calling for a ban on this stuff, the social ills are not nice but they didn't just happen."

Craig Foss cautions that an out and out ban is not as easy as it may appear.

"If we could ban them all we would. But what are we banning?"

Chemically, these substances are "a hodge podge of stuff" making them very hard to ban. On 27 September, K2, Kronic and Kryptonite, three of the worst offenders, failed to pass the testing process and were banned.

Is the Government committed to bringing the number down even further? "Hell yes! We will continue to get that number down ... I am on the

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legal highs

Steve Batty, legal highs retailer, Adult Selections

“It's not all young people taking it, and it's not all Flaxmere and Camberley.

Some of our customers are very well-to-do.” steve batty, adult selections

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

8

there are some rogue retailers still selling the products illegally, and to young people.

"Shop owners identify the kids who have bought it before, then they target them, they give it to them cheaper and it's about creating a need," explains Tamati.

"But our little community armies tell us who's selling it. We pass that on to police and there's a knock on the door. More and more places are being reported.

Once you've got the community up in arms it's just a matter of time."

Tamati's issue reaches far wider than psychoactive substances. He is concerned that Hawke's Bay has a "proalcohol orientation".

"Alcohol is the biggest killer of our kids and unfortunately a lot of people in the Bay have got rich in the industries I'm talking about. They're not about to support us in getting rid of alcohol."

"The sad thing about the synthetic shit is that it's legal – so is alcohol – but to think someone is intentionally poisoning themselves when they take this stuff. At least with alcohol you know what it is, but with cannabinoids you don't."

Tamati feels the recent spotlight on legal highs has benefitted groups like his who have been dealing with the effects of these substances on youth for a long time.

"The Government has come to the party with the legislation requiring importers to prove it is safe, that puts the onus on importers and sellers. That's different to how it was in the past.

As long as there's control over the sale of the shite then there can be

tim.co.nz

control over what the shite is and how its manufactured. The problem is you don't know what's in it."

Tamati believes the proactive side of the equation for councils is to support community groups to provide alternatives, like family-focused activities.

He also knows there is a region-wide need for programmes for youth recovering from substance addiction.

The Police Local police have already been very proactive when it comes to the sale of psychoactive substances. Well before the July legislation Sergeant Nigel Hurley, who heads up the team tasked with monitoring sales of psychoactive substances in the Bay, was taking action to limit the amount of sales as much as possible.

"We've done a lot of good work, but we've got a lot of work still to do," says Hurley, whose team has been recognised for the strong stance it has taken. Other regions now seek advice from Eastern Districts.

When the products were first introduced, and were so readily available, "people thought they were

doing the right thing buying it for their kids because they were already on cannabis," says Hurley.

"The thing with cannabis is it's a naturally occurring substance. This is a bunch of pineapple leaves or grains left over from the brewing industry sprayed with a combination of chemicals."

The Shop Owner One of the three places where psychoactive substances are legally available for sale in Hawke's Bay is Adult Selections in Hastings.

It's a busy shop, open twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Steve Batty is the manager and co-owner.

"I don't smoke it regularly but I have smoked it. It's like a very strong marijuana," says Batty.

He explains his customer base: "Ninety percent of people who buy from us would be users of other drugs in the past.

It's the same demographic as alcohol and illegal drugs, and it's heavily weighted towards Mäori. There are slightly more men than women but often women are shopping for a husband who is at work.

Founded in 2007 MOGUL IS

HOMEGROWN and proudly independent

legal highs

Kevin Tamati (right foreground), coordinator of HB Community Action Youth & Drugs

“Keeping the sale of these substances to the CBD is a good idea. If people have to queue outside a sex shop then so be it. At least they are demonstrating a desire to obey the law.” kevin tamati

It's not all young people taking it, and it's not all Flaxmere and Camberley. Some of our customers are very well-to-do."

Batty says some users of illegal drugs find it easier to move to 'legals', then quit all drugs.

"Some people who have been smoking marijuana for 40 or 50 years have switched to this. People on P move to this stuff. People reduce their alcohol consumption. Many people decide

they've had enough. They smoke too much then they stop taking all drugs."

For some, another major reason for switching from marijuana to smoking legal psychoactive substances is the workplace.

"If you are using marijuana you can lose, or not get, employment. Not many contracts include synthetic cannabinoids."

Batty is confident that products bought in his shop are not being onsold. "People don't buy enough to be selling it on." He

asks questions, and in some cases, refuses to sell to someone buying more than four packets, or buying too often.

"People come in on pay day and buy their packet or two for the week. There are party pills and cannabinoid pills too, but smoke is more popular."

"Most people are smoking it in groups. They are using cones and bongs. Don't smoke it as a joint because it is too strong."

Discussing Hastings' LAPP, Batty says: "To comply we'd have to move into the other side of town (there is a church within 100 metres of their current site) and I'm pretty sure they (other retailers) don't want us there."

Continued on Page 10

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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legal highs

28 'approved' cannabinoids, synthetics, legal highs are for sale tim.co.nz

He and his business partner will make a submission as part of LAPP process.

"Banning it is not the way to go. Ban this, then it's replaced with this; it's just a game. But letting the stuff into dairies was the worst thing that happened."

Batty supports the current central government position. Of course he has benefitted economically, as part

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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of a Hastings duopoly on legal highs.

Newspaper reports have said Adult Selections takes $20,000 in a weekend.

Batty scoffs at this, saying it's completely overblown, but also pointing out the weekend is not his biggest earner.

"My concern is that if they stop it in Hastings it will be sold in tinny houses

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and crack houses and it will just go underground. If you take legals out of the equation then P will grow."

The Mother Jolene and Sid Morrell have first-hand knowledge of how legal psychoactive substances can affect an individual, a family and a wider community. It was their 12-year-old son who attacked the man on the day of the Blossom Parade in Hastings.

The incident came after a seven-month long battle the family had with the drug.

The circumstances that saw their son change from a "bright and bubbly boy who loved playing sport to an angry wild child" began when Jolene Morrell began seeing status updates on her older stepson's Facebook page referring to suicidal thoughts and depression.

"We made the decision to bring him home, he needed awhi and love."

But the 25 year old brought with him an addiction to legal cannabinoids.

"We didn't know anything about this stuff. We thought he was smoking cigarettes and that it was a cigarette substitute because he bought it from the dairy. He was buying three or four packets a day, and he wasn't hiding it from us, he was smoking it right there in front of us."

"We put a lot of energy into this boy.

legal highs

Jolene Morrell, her son's 'high as a kite' assault triggered public outcry tim.co.nz

unpredictable behaviours. At home the family were walking on egg shells.

"We identified pretty quickly what the problem was and I took him into town to try and get some help, but because of his age he didn't qualify for help, I was told repeatedly that he was too young for drug rehab or addiction services."

Another frustration for the family is that psychoactive substances are still

available in Flaxmere, in certain dairies and on the street. Jolene attended a meeting with police, the District Health Board and Hastings District Council.

"We wanted to protest like the Nanny Brigade in Maraenui but a council officer told us we didn't need to because Hastings District Council had sorted it, Continued on Page 12

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

Setting boundaries and rules to keep everyone safe in our family. We began noticing how much time the older kids (all over 18) were spending outside smoking, and I saw how my son who was 12 followed them. It was almost overnight that he changed. That's when all the hate and anger started happening," explains Jolene.

At school there was fighting and

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legal highs

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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Research shows one of the greatest gifts you can give a loved one is a BayBuzz subscription.*

but they hadn't. It's still available."

The immediate events in the buildup to the Blossom Parade are a story in themselves. A week before, Sid Morrell sliced right through his thumb and forefinger in a forestry accident. He was rushed to Hawke's Bay Hospital and then to Hutt Valley Hospital. Later when he and Jolene filled out ACC forms they began to consider what had caused Sid's accident.

"We thought about fatigue and about loss of concentration, and what must be going on in your mind to make you put your hand through a machine." It was at that point they realised how much stress they'd been under.

On the morning of the parade Jolene was preparing to travel to Hutt Hospital.

Her 12 year old was willingly helping with household chores.

"He was all good. He did some jobs and I gave him some money for the holidays. He and his brother caught the free bus into town to see the parade."

Jolene's daughter saw the boy on the bus, rang her mum and told her he "looked wasted".

Jolene left immediately to meet her children in town. Before she got there she received a call from police to say her son had been arrested for grievous bodily harm.

"He was in the cells. When he looked up at me he was as high as a kite."

Talking to her son, Jolene found the boy had used his pocket money to buy psychoactive substances, had travelled in to the parade and by the time he arrived in the CBD was hallucinating. In the crowd he saw a man using a cellphone he believed had been stolen from his mother.

"My boy kept saying 'He had your phone Mum'."

The boy attacked the man. Two others got involved. The boy got the man onto

the ground and pushed his foot into the man's face.

Jolene Morrell, who had been seeking help for her son for many months before the attack, wants to see the Government ban all psychoactive substances.

"And the DHB need to wake up and do something about their services.

The main concern is overwhelming withdrawals. (As products are banned) there'll be an influx of people, including children, going through withdrawals."

"We are a family that is struggling with all this stuff that's going on and I couldn't find any help. I couldn't find anyone to ask," Morrell says.

What happens now?

The 12 year old at the centre of the furore is currently living with grandparents on family land in rural Hawke's Bay. The plan for him is to take part in an education programme during the day, with mentoring every afternoon and into the evening, then weekends outside the area with senior family members.

"We've got no money to pay people to run around after our kids but we've got to keep him busy and active and off the street. He has to be physically exhausted when he gets to bed each night."

The LAPP will be finalised by the end of this year. Police, government and agencies continue to work to shut down illegal sales of psychoactive substances.

Deputy mayor Cynthia Bowers has said she will spend her next term focused solely on youth.

Anyone who has information on the illegal sale of psychoactive substances should call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Evidence pending

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Now the real

PolitickinG

begins by ~ tom belford

Messages lost in the blizzard?

Yes, the highly visible billboards are gone, but now Hawke’s Bay politics moves off the streets and into the more obscure council chambers and murky processes.

Who came out on top?

What will they try to accomplish? And what will be the roadblocks and controversies?

have positioned themselves around Napier issues. Both Tremain and MP colleague Craig Foss, under convenient cover of their ministerial cloaks, have largely avoided inserting themselves seriously into regional issues, limiting themselves to innocuous “Backing the Bay” cheerleader roles.

So, how does this work?

Once a month, the mayors and chair of the regional council meet in what amounts to a coordinating committee for Hawke’s Bay. This is the ‘leadership’ committee whose disagreements on reorganisation over the past three years seriously delayed even getting the matter on the table for study.

It’s quite mystifying what this committee will accomplish going forward, with four of the five members frightened to death of amalgamation and at loggerheads with Lawrence Yule.

Perhaps top vote-getter Kevin Atkinson should be invited to the party.

Especially problematic will be the relationship between Yule and Dalton, especially as the amalgamation decisionmaking process unfolds.

Within their own domains, each mayor may face some difficulty maintaining his grip on the agenda and decision-making process.

Yule perhaps faces a bit more challenge than in the past with herding the cats, with only loyalists Bowers, Hazlehurst, Watkins, Lester, Kerr and Roil at the steady core; Bradshaw and Nixon as persistent challengers; and six others – Poulain, O’Keefe, Heaps, Dixon, Lyons, Pierce – as either new or occasionally independent.

Dalton inherits seven returnees from the Arnott regime – Jeffrey, Herbert, Lutter, Price, White, Pyke and Boag – but beyond uniform opposition to

amalgamation, it remains to be seen how far their loyalty to the new mayor and whatever programme he espouses will extend. Further complicating his life will be a change-oriented crew of newbies – Sye, Hamilton, Taylor, Wise and Brosnan.

Napier Council meetings might actually become interesting to attend, especially if Boag and Pyke decide to show more appetite for challenging the status quo.

Most challenged could be Wairoa’s Mayor Little, who might have the edge on emotional support, fed by his strong opposition to amalgamation; however, new high-polling councillor Chris Joblin has the best understanding of the severe fiscal difficulties facing the district.

4-3-2 At the HB Regional Council, newcomers Dave Pipe and Debbie Hewitt entered a ‘confidence and supply agreement’ of sorts with Fenton Wilson, joining returning Councillors Dick and Scott to ensure his selection as chairman.

But it remains to be seen how far that alliance reaches.

Clearly Hewitt is a stalwart supporter of the dam; probably no amount of evidence will convince her it might be a bad idea.

In his electioneering, Pipe expressed a commendable precautionary approach on water storage – “ensuring that any progress on the Dam project is dependent on it being proved that it is financially sustainable and does not put future generations of ratepayers at risk”.

One might expect that both ‘sides’ on the dam will set about ‘educating’ Pipe on the issue! That makes the dam an unsettled proposition today.

Pipe expressed a similarly hedged position on oil and gas development – “proceed with caution to investigate the Continued on Page 16

»

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

Do we have a leader?

Given its fragmented five-council structure, Hawke’s Bay lacks a single agenda-setting political leader.

Lawrence Yule (elected with 11,516 votes), even setting aside amalgamation, is the elected official most prone to raising and articulating truly regional issues and concerns … most recently via the excellent HDC-sponosored oil and gas (fracking) forum. As indicated in his article elsewhere in this edition, Yule has a broader proactive view of the mayoral and council role than most of his colleagues.

Were Bill Dalton (8,343 votes) to host a ‘big picture’ forum, it would more likely examine whether Marine Parade should opt for a skate park or a wave pool.

But in any event, these two, and their mayoral colleagues, Peter Butler in CHB (2,676 votes) and Craig Little in Wairoa (1,708 votes), officially represent only their respective territorial pockets.

Regional Council Chairman Fenton Wilson sits astride an organization with a truly regional mandate, but as a councillor elected with 2,175 Wairoa votes, and then elected chairman by five of nine colleagues, Wilson doesn’t exactly sit on a commanding political mandate.

Indeed, the biggest vote-getter in the region is the DHB’s Kevin Atkinson.

Only the DHB candidates run regionwide, giving Atkinson the distinction of winning more votes from throughout Hawke’s Bay (15,000 first votes in the STV system) than any candidate for any office. Most people probably do not perceive Atkinson as a ‘politician’ like Yule or Dalton, but perhaps they should.

Others might come along to claim regional political leadership, like Chris Tremain and yet-to-win an election Stuart Nash. But both have only been tested so far as Napier candidates, and apart from occasional newspaper columns,

tim.co.nz

15

real politicking

Billboard too big, said Hastings Council potential economic benefits it could bring to our region, always mindful of putting in place safeguards to protect our environment and public health”.

And on all other issues – coastal protection, climate change, water management on the Heretaunga Plains, GMOs, tourism promotion, leaseholds, bus service, investment strategy – the jury is out. The newbies will need time to sort through these issues and develop their positions.

What might appear at first blush to be a term filled with steadfast 5-4 votes mirroring the chairman selection might wind up with surprising unpredictability.

The dam But returning to the dam, its fate lies entirely in the hands of the HBRC. How will the actual decision-making unfold?

At this juncture, the environmental implications of the project are strongly debated. The Wellington-appointed Board of Inquiry (BoI) won’t make its decisions until April. The BoI must decide whether to award consents to the HB Regional Investment Company (HBRIC) for the dam, and separately, whether to approve the water quality and allocation plan proposed by HBRC for managing the Tukituki catchment.

With respect to the latter, the BoI

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

16

tim.co.nz

decision is final. With respect to the dam itself, once the consent conditions have been made clear, HBRIC will decide whether to recommend further HBRC support for the scheme or not.

During that process, the financing and economics of the scheme will come under its most intense scrutiny, both by CHB farmers potentially interested in the scheme and by the community at large.

At this point, the economics are barely understood, and certain to be contested,

as are the fundamental operating assumptions regarding the productive capacity of the Ruataniwha area, which underpin the project. So murky are these issues that Mayors Yule and Arnott demanded earlier this year that an independent financial/economic risk assessment be completed. The HBRC has publicly committed to commissioning an independent and objective review, so that councillors are not entirely dependent upon the advice of HBRIC, which now

real politicking

acts as a promotion voice for the project.

HBRC has also committed to a yetto-be determined public consultation process before it makes any decision.

Environmentalists, iwi, skeptical business leaders, and some unconvinced CHB farmers make up the vanguard of those questioning the dam. Strongest support comes broadly from the CHB community, some farmers elsewhere in Hawke’s Bay, farming/irrigation/ dairying lobby groups, and contractors eager for the construction work the project would bring.

Four new regional councillors – Graham, Barker, Beaven and myself – have already suggested that the issue is so huge in its financial and environmental risks and ramifications that it should be decided by referendum. Other regional councillors – and indeed other elected officials around the region – will eventually need to take a position as well.

Leaving aside the nine regional councillors, where does the community stand?

No one really knows. Based on my own recent campaigning, I would say public opinion is up for grabs, with a minority (30-40%) already for or against, and a majority (60-70%) unsure and persuadable either way.

Interestingly, if a referendum does occur on the dam, that question might find itself on the same ballot as regional amalgamation.

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champion of amalgamation will be Lawrence Yule, while Bill Dalton and Stuart Nash will vie for political leadership of the opposition. At the fringes, mayors Peter Butler and Craig Little will rally opposition in their communities.

The best-organised community support for amalgamation will come from A Better Hawke’s Bay, chaired by Rebecca Turner. That group will need to reach beyond its business and ‘establishment’ roots and engage the broader public.

It’s not clear what the opposing campaign vehicle will be, although it is certain to be rooted in Napier.

Having signaled his retirement from parliament, it will be interesting to see the role that an unencumbered Chris Tremain will play. Tremain has consistently spoken of the need for reorganization, but also of the requirement that the people decide by referendum. Once the LGC has tabled its recommendation, it will seem difficult for Tremain to remain ‘impartial’.

And what is even less clear is whether and how other community voices will speak up.

Over and over one hears nearly uniform whinging about the dysfunction of local government from business and community leaders. Yet all have been reluctant to ‘go public’, fearing political retribution from councils opposed to reorganisation.

Groups like the Chamber, Business Hawke’s Bay, environmental groups, Mäori leaders and entities, and sport, creative/cultural, and community service organisations routinely relate to councils across the region – and all have their frustrating stories to tell.

For organisations like these, and their leaders, 2014 will be ‘gut check’ time as we all face the prospect of reorganizing for the future.

And then there are the ‘little’ issues – revitalizing our urban centres, coastal protection or retreat, a closed rail line, adapting to climate change, demographic change, visitor promotion, healthier homes and children, violence on our streets and in our homes, maintaining high quality amenities and day-to-day public services, meager job prospects. All before your favourite council.

So yes, local body elections might be over, but the serious politicking is just beginning.

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

Amalgamation Amalgamation as an independent issue peaked back in August, when the Local Government Commission (LGC) came to the region to take the pulse on public opinion, hosting public forums throughout the Bay. Convinced that substantial support for the proposition existed, they went back to Wellington to determine precisely what reorganisation scheme to propose.

So far, there has been nothing to indicate that the LGC will not embrace and recommend in November some form of full regional amalgamation, combining all five current councils into one unitary authority.

But in any case, the Commission is expected to put forth its ‘preferred option’ before Christmas. Once that happens, public debate, submissions, summer barbeques and all the rest will revolve around a choice between that option or simply maintaining the status quo.

All parties to the debate are unified in supporting a region-wide referendum on the issue, so there is no doubt that one will occur, most likely in mid-2014.

At that point, the leading political

“If a referendum does occur on the dam, that question might find itself on the same ballot as regional amalgamation.”

17

On the Hustings...

By Tom Belford

I suspect most BayBuzz readers know by now I was a successful candidate for the Regional Council in the recent elections.

Campaigning – if one is serious about it – is at once challenging, exhausting, humbling, occasionally exhilarating … and most of all, educational.

Not all candidates need to be serious about campaigning to win. Those with deep roots in the community, a highly visible role (past or present), and incumbents are virtually unbeatable.

That reality puts the lie to the admonition:

“Play the ball, not the man.” To most voters, local elections are far more about people – individuals and their perceived qualities or shortcomings – than they are about issues.

Yes, there are some issue-driven voters – I was frequently asked my position on fluoridation, an issue having nothing to do with the Regional Council, and occasionally my position on the dam. But even then, how I responded seemed to be taken at least as seriously as what I said, if not more so.

Almost always, my impression was that the potential voter was sizing up my reliability as a person, more than as an advocate on any given issue.

Even the hugely important protests of the Growers Action Group, although triggered by the critical issue of water

management, effectively challenged the personal responsiveness of incumbent councillors accused of ‘not listening’ and being ‘asleep at the wheel’.

In any event, being new to the community (by Hawke’s Bay standards), unknown to the thousands unfamiliar with BayBuzz, sporting a ponytail, and having never served in local office, I did need to campaign seriously!

What does that mean in our local scene?

Campaigning … simple in theory Simple in theory: billboards, advertising, leafleting, an online presence, some key endorsements, getting in front of people. All of those assuming you have something to say that might interest voters.

Tractor rally stings HBRC incumbents

team, then actually setting them up … invariably in the rain.

Then there’s advertising. The difficulty is more in crafting the message than placing the ads, given that options for media placement are rather limited in Hawke’s Bay. Maintaining an email list, campaign website and Facebook page is de rigueur these days, both for energizing supporters and ‘virtually’ door knocking for new converts.

Probably the most critical ‘advertising’ is the crucial 150-word profile that goes into the Voters' Guide distributed with voting papers. For many voters with pen in hand, that’s the last and only candidate information they will appraise. Naturally candidates polish their profiles to a blinding gloss.

A subset of advertising is leafleting – getting those ‘junk mail’ brochures out. Not an easy chore when you have 35,000 voters to reach, approximately half of whom have “No circulars” warnings on their letterboxes.

Dare you leave a campaign brochure?!

I relied on volunteers primarily for putting up and taking down signs, and for door knocking. I used a paid service for my letterbox drops, which presented its own problems. My key brochure drop wound up sitting in the distributor’s garage and was delivered a week late!

Billboards are all about building awareness. Nothing does it better. While they don’t communicate much messagewise, I was constantly reminded of the impact of the impressions created by these unwanted intrusions. “I wouldn’t vote for him, his signs are sloppy.” “My daughter likes your face.” “You look trustworthy.” OK, forget the growers dispute or the dam then.

Billboards also represent the chief logistical challenge of the campaign – lining up locations (people are actually quite shy about publicizing their support for a candidate by offering their yard or paddock as a location), getting all the lumber and hardware together (to say nothing of producing the signs themselves), assembling the ‘installation’

tim.co.nz

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

tim.co.nz

Door knocking Actually walking up to the door and chatting with voters – is the most painstaking of all campaign activities, but also, in my opinion, the one with highest value.

The first thing you learn is how densely packed-in the homes and flats are. Planners call it ‘in-fill’! Repeatedly I was astonished at how long it took to door knock just two sides of a single block, even though I might find someone home at only one-in-three doors.

Then there’s the quirky nature of local home design. Front doors were actually very hard to find. Often I found myself passing by front-of-house bedrooms – shades open for viewing – in my quest to locate the door.

I quickly learnt to keep my eyes on the walkway until the door was discovered!

Almost as frequent as “No circulars” were “Beware of dog” signs! I had plenty of dog encounters, and soon decided that discretion outweighed valour.

More importantly, there were serious learnings as well.

As I door knocked throughout my district, I became far more aware of the social and economic diversity it houses, even from door to neighboring door, and in just about every neighborhood – flash house, rundown cottage, four modest-income flats, stacked one behind the other, flash again. A great reminder why punters care about their rates – wealth is not widely spread.

I was also greeted by many older folks, living alone, perhaps socially isolated.

Something to think about seriously as our region’s aging population grows significantly.

Then finally, there’s how people reacted. “Love your ponytail!” called out one lady, wearing her elastic support hose, not a day under 90, as I left her doorstep. People were usually quite surprised to see a candidate at their door.

My mere ‘showing up’ earned dozens of votes. And the intrepid volunteers who door knocked in support of me found the same encouraging response.

More often I was asked about my accent or origin than about issues. Many had heard about some sort of stoush between growers and the regional council and were bothered, but didn’t know the specifics behind it. Many proffered that the environment needed to be better protected. Many complained that ‘too many’ were in office ‘too long’.

And every now and then, a ‘chat’ turned into a twenty minute venting of a grievance or serious questioning about some issue. But overall, I’d have to say that most people were only vaguely aware of the regional council’s focus or the issues before it.

In any event, I’m now a firm believer in door knocking, even if on some days during the campaign I woke up cursing the sunshine. Good weather meant I’d need to spend a few more hours on the streets … to the song in my head: “Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door.”

19

Destination Hawke’s Bay Or Is It Napier or Hastings?

Keith Newman suggests Hawke’s Bay needs more than rural charm, earthquake and art deco memories and the perpetual clink of wine glasses to ensure its fragmented tourism industry remains robust and relevant.

tim.co.nz

Destination Hawke’s Bay

Associate Tourism minister Chris Tremain, reckons visitor spending increased from $479 million to $557 million between March 2009 and 2012.

When 2013 numbers are released it may look even brighter.

To some, Napier is the poster child for Hawke’s Bay. And a concerted effort over the past decade to promote the territory from Waipukurau to Wairoa has been met with claims that this is diluting the destination message.

That argument is in full swing as Napier City Council hedges its bets, backing HB Tourism’s regional mandate while celebrating cruise ship success, presiding over the most significant refresh of its tourist assets in decades, and hiring an events manager.

Ship to shore satisfaction Cruise New Zealand’s satisfaction ratings in September gave Napier 9/10; the top go-ashore destination ahead of Tauranga, Akaroa and the Bay of Islands.

Nearly half the 211,400 passengers visiting New Zealand got off at Napier, 97,000 of them spending an estimated $22.2 million in Hawke’s Bay. Cruise ship visitor numbers are up 400% since the 2004/5 season; fewer ships are expected this season but some will be bigger.

Prior to 1985 when the Art Deco Trust took the helm, Napier’s post-quake architecture was considered outdated. The Trust, believing this highest concentration of art deco buildings in the southern hemisphere was worth celebrating, created the annual February Art Deco Weekend.

There’s been rapid growth since 2006 and last year more than 30,000 people attended events, including the public parading of hundreds of vintage vehicles, aerial displays, concerts, and the Great Gatsby Picnic. Art Deco Week now adds around $11 million to the local economy.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

22

Hawke’s Bay’s half billion dollar tourism industry is at a critical crossroads as HB Tourism prepares to negotiate the next stage of a plan to reframe the region as a go-ahead, year-round destination in the face of parochial patch protection that accentuates the twin city divide.

While vineyard concerts, award-winning food and wine and 200km of cycle track have helped dispel the stigma of the Bay as a backwater, the exorbitant cost of flights and an anarchic approach to regional events and marketing are seen as impediments to visitor growth.

The bottom line is the Bay needs more visitors to stay longer and dig deeper, simply to break the five year accommodation drought and ensure smaller tourism and hospitality businesses survive despite increasing rents and rates, and the long cold shoulder when peak activity plummets.

While tourism has been in “a nasty slump”, HB Tourism general manager Annie Dundas, says international and domestic activity is on the move again and commercial and household surveys suggest spending is up, particularly as more mature visitors arrive with deeper pockets.

The challenge is to improve offerings at every level. “Every region in New Zealand is getting good at this stuff so we’ve got to get ahead of the game and keep things fresh and new,” says Dundas.

Over a million visitors came to Hawke’s Bay in the year ended May; 80% of them domestic, mostly from Auckland, Wellington, Taupö, Manawatu and Bay of Plenty, staying an average of just over three nights.

Earlier this year, assuming an average spend of $120 a day, local economist Sean Bevan estimated tourism delivered about $433 million or about 7% of local GDP, although new credit card data suggests it’s much more than that.

tim.co.nz

97,000 cruise ship passengers visit Hawke's Bay

In October the Government stumped up $530,000 to help raise the international profile of the 2014 and 2015 events, matched by Napier City Council in the hope of doubling international visitors to around 6,000.

Marine Parade make-over Meanwhile the old Marineland site, where young families came in droves to see the dolphins perform in Napier’s holiday haven heyday, has a new designation as a glorified skate and scooter park with climbing wall, basketball court and other facilities.

The marine life has long gone, mostly relegated to the exemplary National Aquarium further along the coastal tourism strip. The $3.5 million makeover, scheduled for completion in 2015, will complement a tiered outdoor amphitheater and a passive Pania of the Reef themed recreation area.

It’s part of the wider redevelopment of the iconic Marine Parade, including a wave park north of Ocean Spa and walk-through shopping and the newly re-opened $18 million Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery (HBMTG) replacing the old museum which was at the centre of the city’s cultural life for around 150 years.

While everyone’s proud of HBMTG and the plans for Marine Parade, Shaun Lines, director of PR and events company Grow, suggests it’s simply a catch up rather than an answer to Hawke’s Bay’s tourism dilemma.

“We’re not providing a new experience, it’s just that it was so bad before. It’s like having a new supermarket that showcases things better … and the Marine Parade development is not going to see people coming in their droves.”

Regional rebranding While Napier continues to memorialise the devastating 7.8 earthquake and the architectural achievements of the Great Depression, the region is struggling to tell a broader story that embraces vineyards, orchards, cuisine, art, cycling, scenery, beaches, events, sports and lifestyle.

The regional approach, under the aegis of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC), had its genesis in the late 1990s with Vision 20/20 which morphed into Hawke’s Bay Inc and then Venture Hawke’s Bay. As these efforts became increasingly tangled in bureaucracy, failing to communicate effectively with the business and tourism sectors, they blew budgets and bled cash – your cash, the $15 annual HBRC ratepayer tourism levy.

After Venture Hawke’s Bay, HBRC expressed doubts about its involvement

Destination Hawke’s Bay

Annie Dundas, Hawke's Bay Tourism in tourism until Sileni’s catering company owner Sam Orton, formed the Hawke’s Bay Tourism Industry Association (HBTIA). In July 2011 he enticed two former Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) executives to head up Hawke’s Bay Tourism as the new nonprofit Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO).

George Hickton, after a decade as chief executive of TNZ, became chairman and Annie Dundas, previously responsible for TNZ marketing to the global travel trade, became general manager.

With just enough budget to employ five people and gather the broken threads of past efforts, HB Tourism took on the daunting challenge to “promote and co-ordinate opportunities for economic growth and prosperity for the visitor industry in Hawke’s Bay”.

HB Tourism was signed up for a three year HBRC contract with an annual budget of $850,000 and around $160,000 from the industry.

In the rebranding the ‘Wine Country’ wording was removed from the decade old logo, with the deco sun rays now shining over ‘Hawke’s Bay’.

shine at Black Barn and other venues.

A clear statement of regional connectivity is made through the HBRC and the Rotary Pathways Trust cycling and walking tracks that effectively link suburbs, parks, rural areas and coastal villages.

The pathways have proven a real hit for locals and visitors getting fit, sightseeing and sampling food and wine and breaking down artificial geographical boundaries.

Although the 15-year-old Harvest Hawke's Bay Food and Wine Festival was canned in 2012, HB Tourism moved quickly to create an alternative; the Food and Wine Classic (FAWC!) debuted in November 2012.

Early critics said it was too highbrow and costly; a dozen of the 58 events were cancelled through lack of sales. HB Tourism claims 4,000 tickets were sold; about 30% to out-of-towners, bringing in

about half a million dollars.

A winter reprise in June attracted 1,500 ticket sales for 30 events and FAWC is now promoted internationally by Tourism NZ to showcase the region’s cuisine, with strong demand for the November 2013 event.

The Easter Big Easy 43 kilometer cycle trail around the sights and tourist traps attracted ‘hundreds’ of participants and has also become a calendar event.

Destination division Despite the hoopla, Napier Tourism Association spokesperson David George, claims regional tourism is a failed experiment that has cost Napier and the region about $200 million over the past decade.

He wants to see Napier restored to centre stage as the traditional boutique Continued on Page 24

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Food and wine connection In season there’s no shortage of events showcasing the best the Bay has to offer; including at least 20 of the region’s 70 vineyards featuring some form of live entertainment.

Mission Estate, which pioneered vineyard concerts, attracts up 25,000 people in a good year, a high percentage from out of town.

While there’s growing competition, the seasonal challenge is to book the right mix of swan song artists to appeal to baby boomers and contemporary Kiwi acts to

tim.co.nz

23

Destination Hawke’s Bay

Model of Te Mata Peak Visitor and Education Centre

“A holiday in Hawke's Bay or ‘a weekend in the Bay’ is part of the Kiwi vernacular … by marketing ourselves as 'Hawke's Bay' we are already talking a language that people understand and relate to.”

tim.co.nz

tim carthew, marketing manager, hastings city council

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

24

destination it was before regional branding messed with its mojo.

Based on his MBA studies on destination tourism in 2009, he asserts the biggest damage has been to domestic tourism, as evidenced by a slump in commercial accommodation nights and family groups staying in holiday parks.

Destinations, he says, are defined by history. “It’s where people naturally gravitate and where accommodation and supporting commercial clusters spring up”…like Napier which has 70% of the beds.

He insists Taupö, Queenstown, Paris and London are the destinations not Waikato, Otago, South East London or France.

“Hawke’s Bay has never been a tourist destination, it’s an agricultural region.”

George says Napier City Council needs to divorce itself from Hawke’s Bay branding, withdraw from HB Tourism and set up its own Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO), like Queenstown. “Regional branding is killing Napier as a destination.”

Havelock House proprietor Diana Arnold also favours Napier as the hub destination because it’s better known internationally and ultimately everyone benefits. She says Hawke’s Bay has many faces and a regional tourism approach has to “please too many pipers”, risking the message being diluted.

However, Tim Carthew, Hastings District Council communications and marketing manager, believes a Napier-only approach is flawed, presenting a narrow view of the world that doesn’t serve the region well.

A weekend cycling on the Hawke’s Bay trails, the wineries and beaches or a family visit to Splash Planet might be equally appealing as an art deco experience.

He says visitors tend to consume one experience and move on to the next.

“When we have been dealt a relatively good tourism hand in terms of the experiences we can offer, why would we focus on just playing one card?”

A holiday in Hawke's Bay or “a weekend in the Bay” is part of the Kiwi

vernacular, says Carthew. “By marketing ourselves as 'Hawke's Bay' we are already talking a language that people understand and relate to.”

Pulling together Annie Dundas gets frustrated with those who prefer to do their own thing. “There’s no iron curtain between Hastings and Napier. This sense of division is a local issue that gets in the way of presenting the region — visitors don’t care; they’ll go where they’ve had the best experience.”

While art deco is clearly a major drawcard for international tourists, Dundas says we have to be smarter about how we talk to domestic visitors who’ve been here before. “We need a bucket of things to talk about”.

“The travel sellers who put together itineraries, including those from the US, talk about the diversity of experiences we provide across the region which makes it worthwhile for their clients to stay for three nights,” says Dundas.

And that’s before HB Tourism’s nascent promotional efforts have even touched on the walks and scenic wonders of lakes Tutira and Waikaremoana or Wairoa and Mahia along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Talk about Napier forming its own group is isolationist, says Dundas. “I think they’d lose momentum if they’re not part of the regional strategy. We work well with the Napier Council, which runs a lot of attractions and we’ll look to do that better.”

Horses for courses Things have come a long way since 2010, when Hastings openly admitted it lacked a strong, positive identity as a visitor destination and hoped to do better under its new ‘Heart of Hawke’s Bay’ branding.

Three years later the city seems to have

happily embraced the regional marketing approach, although it doesn’t actually contribute to HB Tourism’s running costs.

It partners on projects such as the Big Easy cycle event, FAWC and the “Get me to Hawke’s Bay” campaign; contributing $26,500 in the 2012-13 year and by October, $9,000 for the current year, although there’s talk of Hastings raising a separate tourism levy for its own promotional, sports and tourism efforts.

Apart from the Opera House, art gallery, the Farmers' Market, Splash Planet, the annual Blossom Festival, beaches, parks and reserves, and wineries, much of Hasting’s ‘tourism’ focus is sports-related.

Horse of the Year in mid-March brings in $12 million; the new Sports Park can host international events and the soon-to-be-completed hockey park has already scored the 10-year, eight nations international women’s hockey tournament starting in April 2014.

Peak performance Much of the attraction in Hastings territory is on the eastern side of Havelock North, the boutique village boasting Keirunga Gardens and art centre, Birdwood Gallery and Arataki Honey Visitor Centre among its assets.

The village is on the foothills of the ‘sleeping giant’ Te Mata Peak offering panoramic views across Hawke’s Bay from its towering 399 metres. It’s surrounded by a 90 hectare park featuring native bush, rare flora and fauna and a Giant Redwood forest, and attracts around 200,000 visitors annually.

The proposed $4 million Te Mata Park Visitor and Education Centre at the main gates will further capitalise on this location.

In October the Hastings council approved a new hotel and retail

Destination Hawke’s Bay

operation for Havelock North and transformed the old Visitor Information Centre into a fully staffed i-Site.

Diana Arnold, involved with the English Tourism Board in a previous life, applauds Hastings for taking over the centre, which under private ownership was often closed. Locals see this as an affirmation of Havelock North as the gateway to Waimarama and Ocean Beach and some of the region’s top wineries and restaurants, including Black Barn, Te Mata Estate and Craggy Range.

Arnold wonders how HB Tourism plans to communicate with Havelock North, Taradale, the Cape Coast and other areas to ensure they have the right representation for their distinctive contributions. “Will there be a tourism officer responsible for this?”

A sharp turn left after the Red Bridge takes you along the winding road, hugging the Tukituki River to the eclectic and artistic Cape Coast community embracing Haumoana, Te Awanga and Clifton where Elephant Hill, Clearview wineries and restaurants and the historic Clifton Station and Café are located, along with the region’s most popular natural attraction.

The largest inland gannet colony in the world at Cape Kidnappers draws about 10,000 visitors a year; 70% from offshore, and hosts one of the world’s top

golf courses and the five star lodge and restaurant, The Farm.

Pulling together The theme of HB Tourism’s September conference and awards, ‘Let’s Talk Teamwork’, resonated with the subsequent National Tourism Conference in Wellington, which also focused on collaboration.

Dundas says the major tourism groups now have a national strategy for tourism and want the regions to reflect that. She’s hoping local councils will engage more actively with HB Tourism. “We need to share our marketing plans and present ourselves consistently.”

However, Shaun Lines at Grow claims it’s become too costly to host national business tourism events, trade shows and conferences in Hawke’s Bay. “We ran a national not-for-profit event in Napier about three years ago and were told by people in Dunedin that it would have been half the cost if we ran it on the Gold Coast.”

Lines says getting people to the Bay has become uncompetitive, as has the cost of accommodation. Bed and breakfast at the 5-star Stamford Plaza in Auckland costs $135, but he says, you’d be lucky to get a night in a Hawke’s Bay motel for that.

Continued on Page 26

“Napier City Council needs to divorce itself from Hawke’s Bay branding, withdraw from HB Tourism and set up its own Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO)…

Regional branding is killing Napier as a destination.” napier tourism spokesman david george

» Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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Cost of belonging In September, HB Tourism showered accolades on regional tourism pioneers and achievers, mostly those who’ve pushed the wine country and regional branding over the past decade.

David George and others spoken to

by BayBuzz suggest it’s a self-serving group, promoting the objectives of its own board members and those with the deepest pockets.

“While HB tourism turns out lovely press releases and holds awards telling us how well they’re doing, the fact is they aren’t doing well, it’s all based on PR and spin.”

High membership fees and the cost of promotional opportunities hasn’t helped, although a more inclusive sliding scale membership fee – $250 to $1,250, instead of the $550 baseline – should help. HB Tourism wants to quadruple membership from around 300 to 1,200.

Diana Arnold applauds the lowering of the bar, and while everyone gets a free web listing, she says advertising in the Visitor Guide, placing brochures at the airport and multiple i-Sites plus conferences and trade shows can still add several thousand dollars to the mix.

She’d like to think HB Tourism will run more courses to help smaller businesses improve customer service, learn how to turn inquiries into bookings and do a better job of marketing. Dundas is working on that.

Funding the future HB Tourism is also up against commercial realities, attempting to represent the region on what some might call a shoestring budget.

Annie Dundas says there are “disparate pots of money in different places” that could be better used. “I’d love to see a more shared approach…on how we use the available funds.”

While quietly confident HBRC will renew HB Tourism’s contract at the end of June 2014, she’d like funding boosted and is completing a proposal for the next three years, citing the need for further research and development of specific tourism opportunities.

“We’re proving we can get things done with FAWC and The Big Easy; we’ve hit all our KPIs and we’re doing really well from an international perspective, but we can’t keep doing this on the same budget.”

Dundas is confident her group is up for the challenges ahead, including promoting the Cricket World Cup being hosted in Napier in 2015, and developing better resources to target the Chinese market.

Chinese visitors to New Zealand increased 27% to the year ending August 2013 making it the country’s second-largest tourist market and a boom in middle-class Asian tourists, 76% of whom travel in groups, is expected over the next decade.

Tourism HB is translating material into Chinese and gearing up packages including farm and garden visits, trips to Arataki Honey and Pernell Fruitworld and appropriate architectural and cultural tours.

On her most recent visit to China, Dundas says art deco was top of the list because of its uniqueness. “We don’t want to compete with everyone else; while wine is a sub-set, art deco is the hero.”

Culture is a much misunderstood term that can embrace everything from wine and food to music and museums, but there’s been little evidence of how prominent Mäori culture is in Hawke’s Bay outside the annual Matariki and Waitangi Day celebrations.

Dundas says the recently installed Ngä Pou o Heretaunga in Hastings CBD helps people understand that “we have some stunning Mäori cultural product”. While cultural tourism has “a huge appeal to an international audience”, it requires finance, people and resources to develop and market.

For example, she says Waimarama Mäori Tours, which includes the Te Mata Peak experience, are doing “a brilliant and authentic job” and now recieving government assistance.

Better stories to tell HB Tourism is urging everyone to be “doing more”, particularly around drawcard events, and off-season sports tournaments.

Tourism is an important component of Hawke’s Bay’s economic recovery but it needs new technology (see Techfocus, p 40), fresh ideas and innovation to innovate and move ahead.

Access remains a key issues and discussions around a second airline and extending the runway for larger aircraft and international flights are ongoing.

Regardless of whether you get here, by road, sea or air, it's only 15-20 minutes travel between the cities and villages and most of the wineries and local attractions.

As Dundas points out, the other obstacles are primarily parochial and likely to dissolve through research, strong business cases and improved relationships.

Everyone agrees on one thing though, there’s a need to get more people to Hawke’s Bay for memorable experiences and they require a bucket load of reasons to come back.

tim.co.nz

Lawrence ‘Amalgamation’ Yule

“I reject the status quo.” by ~ lawrence yule

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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The local government elections have been and gone.

The weeks-long barrage of photoshopped billboards, endless junk mail and media coverage from candidates is gone for another three years. For all its faults, democracy is something to be cherished even if only 43% of eligible people voted.

There is some new blood in most councils, and two new mayors in our region. This is a very positive thing and change brings new ideas and opportunities. The challenge for all those that are new in elected office is to take everything in for the first few months while learning how decisionmaking works.

There are however two very big issues to be addressed in the next twelve months which allow little time for settling in around the table. The Ruataniwha Dam and amalgamation are set for major decisions inside a year and

both are full of controversy, opportunity and political interference. Interestingly, they are both very much connected.

The recent election of four new Hastings representatives on the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council with a mandate of change was more about structure and attitude than lack of water. The Twyford water shortage in the recent drought may not happen again for many years, but the treatment of these growers will not be easily forgotten by them.

So what had started off as a change to the environmental conditions of the waterways in the area very quickly turned

to major concern about loss of jobs and production.

Equally, I am left amused by the mayor of Central Hawke’s Bay leading a rally at the building of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council at its inaugural meeting to support the Ruataniwha Dam, while at the same time slamming amalgamation. Maybe he doesn’t realise how interconnected our communities are.

The CHB Council has not stopped putting its sewage into the Tukituki, nor has it made any contribution to the feasibility study work on the Ruataniwha Dam. The feasibility work has been funded by the balance sheet of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, for which Central Hawke’s Bay accounts for just 10%. Urban families in Napier and Hastings have met the vast proportion of the costs so far, and most of the adverse effects of the CHB wastewater plant impact on the recreational opportunities of the same urban populations.

Last week I viewed a draft report on sea level rise and tsunami risk, which should be alarming for our whole coastal community. This coupled with the most recent international climate change modelling indicated that by the middle of the 21st century our current hottest month will actually be equivalent to the coldest month in 2050.

So of course it makes sense to try adapt to such unprecedented changes.

We will need to store and ration water, grow different crops and manage coastal environments in a very different way than we do now.

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Need to address the big picture My problem with the current thinking in the region is that largely we are focusing on managing local services and keeping costs down, while massive demographic and environmental changes are quickly creeping up on us.

I simply cannot see how we can make decisions for the future of my children without a different style of leadership in the region. Our disjointed and differing priorities will not serve us well in the long term.

I may be a lone voice at the mayoral and chair level around reorganisation (despite the new mayors protesting they have somehow been given a mandate for the status quo), but I am more than ever convinced that the region needs to look at things differently.

Former mayors Arnott and Probert did not support amalgamation, but both conceded it was inevitable. New Napier Mayor Bill Dalton was equally quoted two years ago as saying it will happen but just not yet. So don’t expect me to back away from challenging the thinking of my colleagues while respecting their democratically-elected status. If most elected members had a blank sheet of paper and weren’t worried about where they personally fitted into a structure, I am sure a different approach would be evident.

The real issues for Hawke’s Bay are not around rate increases, relative debt levels or where offices are located. It is

about a leadership structure that is fit for purpose, locally driven yet regionally connected. While there is the ability to save some money, the real value will come from a holistic long-term plan with smart execution.

For me the issues are simple and transparent. Like any business we have the ability to restructure ourselves to make us more resilient, future-focused and successful. The environmental, social and economic trade-offs can only be managed – and the benefits achieved – if a long-term holistic view is taken. I am watching this unfold very successfully in Auckland, and it is now being mirrored in Hamilton and Tauranga.

Equally the decision around any change in structure will be democratically made by the people in a binding referendum. I have just one vote, but I will challenge and try to influence people’s ideas.

So the next 12 months will be very interesting as we battle over the future direction of Hawke’s Bay. I will continue to bring up new concepts and ideas in the knowledge that, at just about every level, Hawke’s Bay indicators are near the bottom of the New Zealand average.

I do not accept that a council’s major role is to look after the basics. Mayors, chairs and councillors are elected leaders who need to help shape the future.

And I reject the status quo.

Preservation of the status quo may appear safe and personally comfortable for many, but I am sure our grandchildren will not thank us for sitting on our hands, paralysed by inaction and self-interest.

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Memories of a LIfetime of Love

tim.co.nz

Havelock Business Association groupies from left to right: Sam Jackman Adrienne Pierce Bruce Jackson George Miller George Williams Jeni Cox Nick Pattison

Becoming the ‘greatest little village in the world’ by ~ Adrienne Pierce

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

30

Sometimes it seems that Havelock North is a victim of its own success.

There is a long held view that Havelockians are rich and come from privileged backgrounds. However, NZ Stats does not quite agree with that notion. The largest career demographic living there are teachers – not lawyers, accountants, evil large corporate business owners, doctors and rich landed gentry, as is often opined.

Havelock North is a pleasant place to live and the Village retail area is mostly owner-operated businesses … a novelty these days with the advent of big box shopping malls. All of the lifestyle requirements are there including a wide range of residential and business options plus some of the best schools in Hawke’s Bay, some might say New Zealand.

Wikipedia describes Havelock North as a town. In fact, it is a suburb of Hastings since the amalgamation in 1989 of the Havelock North Borough Council, the Hastings City Council and the Hawke’s Bay County Council to form the Hastings District Council. The conversation around amalgamation was no doubt the same then as it is today, with the idea that Hastings and Havelock North together must be stronger, delivering greater economic and social benefits for the whole district.

Has that been the case? Experience to date has been that generally Havelock North pretty much looks after itself.

Hastings is the economic hub and Heart of Hawke’s Bay, and there has been and continues to be a very concentrated effort

to make these statements a reality. The two former Havelock North councillors seem to mostly have been marginalised, although one assumes that will change with the Havelock North – Hastings ward being combined.

If there is such a thing as brand recognition (some councillors don’t believe so) – what are the brands of Hastings and Havelock North?

Hastings could be viewed as Havelock North’s big sister, and the less attractive cousin of Napier. Nonetheless, she has great bone structure and huge potential, except she tends to get a bit snarky and bossy with her other relatives. Havelock North is the ‘best little village in the world’ where you can live, play and work.

And the pretty cousin Napier tends to be a bit flashy and ‘look at me, look at me’ which doesn’t help at family gatherings.

We need to somehow ‘get over it’ as they say and getting a business plan would be extremely helpful. It would be ideal to do this for Hawke’s Bay, but that’s a step too far at this time, so let’s get it organised for the Hastings District. It’s critical to have a Marketing 101 plan, sitting next to the Business Plan. We have been here before but we need to re-visit and get crystal clear on who we are (clue: not Wellington, not Auckland, not Queenstown), who are our customers (clue: ratepayers and visitors), what do our customers need, and how do we deliver?

Havelock North Business Association has worked from a Hawke’s Bay perspective for the last four or five years.

The recognition of where it sits in the

Hawke’s Bay universe has always been very clear. Relationships have been built with other associations to promote the Village as the place to base yourself to see Hawke’s Bay. The key is to continue to build a strong brand for The Village, and to galvanise the Havelock North business community.

The marketing committee for the association this year has stepped the game up to another level and documented what needs to happen. The clear and concise objectives are: • Become ‘the greatest little village in the world’; • Fill our accommodation providers – 400 beds – every weekend; • Get locals to shop local; • Drive supplementary revenue through online.

Becoming the ‘greatest little village in the world’ requires one consistent voice for marketing, with one consistent brand look and feel. That’s what Havelockians are doing for themselves.

If would be great if Hastings District Council could provide a Hastings District Promotion Plan, to include a business park strategy, and a plan for attracting national and international business … and most importantly, in each of these we need to see clearly where Havelock North and our other neighbour ‘suburbs’ fit in.

Adrienne Pierce is a newly-elected HDC councillor and president of the Havelock North Business Association.

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Maxine Boag with Karenema Timu, chairperson of the Mataruahou branch of the Mäori Wardens

The Right People, With The Right Attitude

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

32

At a time when most Napier citizens want doggedly to maintain the status quo, the 2013 local body elections delivered the biggest makeover our council has seen since four councillors lost their seats in the 2004 election.

But despite the advent of a new mayor, new chief executive and five new councillors, it looks to me like ‘steady as she goes’ will be the order of the day.

New Mayor Bill Dalton first expressed an interest in the city’s highest office when we were both elected to council in 2007.

A loyal supporter of the popular Arnott administration, and chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, Bill has been most visible and outspoken in leading the charge against amalgamation.

Over the last two years, he has done the hard yards going from one end of the region to the other defending Napier’s right to maintain its unique identity. His sizeable electoral win gives a clear mandate

from the electorate on this and other issues he supports.

He now has around him a wellbalanced mixture of new and experienced councillors, all of whom support Napier citizens’ right to choose their city’s future.

Other aspects of the council’s composition are of interest. While the number of women councillors has dropped from six out of 13 to five, NCC still has the highest proportion of women to men in any of the region’s new local bodies except for the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board.

As well, Maraenui businesswoman Mere Nepia came within a few votes of becoming our first Mäori councillor in her bid for a seat in the Nelson Park ward.

The five newcomers add value to the council by bringing on board new skills, experience and enthusiasm. They include: businessman, JP and school principal Roy Sye; Mark Hamilton, owner/manager of Alexander Construction; accountant Kirsten Wise of Black and White Accounting; Graeme Taylor, general manager of the Napier District Masonic Trust; and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council employee Annette Brosnan, who also adds a youthful outlook, being in her 20s.

They complement re-elected councillors Michelle Pyke, a long-time effective

by ~ Maxine Boag

advocate for low and no-income citizens; former cop-turned-businessman Keith Price; well-known retailer and JP Tony Jeffrey; Ahuriri businessman and Major Projects chair Mark Herbert; Rob Lutter, JP, Manager of Napier Alzheimers Society; Faye White, a medical practice manager; and myself, former schoolteacher and occasional journalist.

We all worked collegially well together in our previous terms of office, so hopefully can set a positive tone for collaboration to help the new council gel.

The overall lower voter turnout has been the subject of much soul-searching throughout New Zealand, with blame being shared amongst the confusing voting system, too much reading, too many choices, voters not knowing any candidates, voter ignorance and laziness. Although we can proudly say we bucked the trend in Napier, with the overall turnout going up from 2010’s 44.88% to 47.24%, it is still below well the half-way mark.

However, the re-election of all standing incumbents (apart from John “Bertie” Cocking, who ran an all-or-nothing campaign for the Mayoralty) suggests to me that Napier likes their council and has confidence in their councillors.

The fiscally sound platform built in the

“Bill [Dalton] has been most visible and outspoken in leading the charge against amalgamation.” forward and tackle our city’s business is having our council actively working together as a team; trusting, valuing and listening to each other, so we can then engage with all our people to break down any barriers that divide us.

Community engagement is similarly critical to our effectiveness as a council in the term ahead.

“But I don’t know anybody, how can I vote for people I don’t know?” … was a recurring comment I heard on the hustings, which reflects unfavourably on our visibility as councillors out in the communities we serve. I believe that better use of the ward system, and improved communication with Napier’s citizens using all means and media will make us more visible and increase the community’s confidence and engagement in our decision-making.

While Mayor Bill comes from a sharebroker background, he has put aside his desire to travel and holiday in his retirement, instead to serve the citizens of Napier. A people person, he talks about an inclusive council, about sharing the load, and communicating openly with his colleagues and the public.

In my opinion we have the right people, with the right attitude, in place to tackle the challenging job we have ahead.

Maxine Boag was re-elected in October to serve a third term on the Napier City Council for the Nelson Park ward.

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Arnott years has given us a strong base to deliver ‘more of the same’, but with the fresh look a new council, mayor and chief executive will bring.

Although amalgamation might have provided a rallying cry for the Napier election, and a defining question often asked of me when I was door-knocking, it is not the only important issue.

The need for further exploration of shared services with other territorial authorities was a recurring theme throughout the campaign and I hope will be explored further by the new council.

Infrastructure-related questions came up again and again in the campaign: the

sale or retention of council’s leasehold land; the erosion at Westshore beach, our many earthquake-prone buildings, and the revitalisation of the parade (including the removal of trucks) were popular topics.

There is no doubt that Napier’s pathways, cafes, Ahuriri, Art Deco architecture, and the beautification of the Marine Parade make it a stunning destination. But we could do with more visitors, businesses and employed residents to keep the city buoyant. The need for job-producing economic development in and around the city was raised by many as a major concern that needs to be urgently addressed.

Social issues are of particular concern to me. Although they are not council’s core business, youth unemployment, affordable housing, our ageing population, Mäori aspirations, empty state houses, alcohol and drug abuse, and the growing gap between the rich and the poor all affect the security of our lovely city.

I believe that improving the wellbeing of our least privileged citizens will improve the wellbeing of the city as a whole.

With our first council meeting two weeks away as this goes to press, it is hard to predict how all these issues will be tackled. Different approaches may be taken with having a new chief executive, mayor, councillors and revamped council committees providing fresh input.

A comprehensive induction programme of sessions covering everything from conflict of interest, tourism services, and a bus tour of council facilities is timetabled in for both new and returning councillors over the month of November. This will give us all a better understanding of the way our city works and a solid base for our deliberations.

In my mind, the only way we can move

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Bloody Hard Decisions Tom Belford interviews Kevin Atkinson as he contemplates leading our Hawke’s Bay DHB another three years.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

34

“Any decision in health is a bloody hard decision,” says DHB Chairman Kevin Atkinson as he contemplates the challenges in bringing better health outcomes to the people of Hawke’s Bay. But he adds: “Improving the health of our community improves everything in our region, from educational achievement to worker productivity.”

Just re-elected to the Health Board, easily garnering the most votes of any DHB candidate, Atkinson is the most obvious – but not yet certain – choice to serve as chairman for another term.

Over that term, he expects the financial resources available to the HBDHB to grow marginally, perhaps 1% per year, falling behind in real terms when inflation is taken into account.

No wonder then that Atkinson treats the ongoing quest for cost savings as one of his top three priorities. The DHB budget now stands at $485 million, an amount that must cover every aspect of health care delivery in Hawke’s Bay – from the primary care delivered by your GP, to surgeries and emergency treatment, to mental health, substance abuse and health promotion programs.

Moreover, when capital investments are required – such as a new acute mental illness facility or an endoscopy

suite or birthing unit – these too must be funded from the ‘surplus’ created by extracting savings – in the range of $10-$15 million per annum – from the overall operating budget.

Compounding the challenge, all savings must be sustainable year after year; not temporary ‘fixes’ that subsequently creep back into the spend.

“We can only achieve these savings with the cooperation of the community and other providers,” says Atkinson.

Still, he is philosophical about the financial constraint, observing that New Zealand is one of the very few OECD nations that have not cut back its funding allocation to health care in recent years.

He notes that Hawke’s Bay’s funding allocation from the national pot – driven chiefly by a population formula – is essentially flattened by our region’s lack of population growth compared to the large urban centres. That formula makes little adjustment for special needs, like a sharply growing elderly population or a growing Mäori/Pasifika population that lags in most health measures.

Another ‘top three’ priority will be meeting the targets set nationally by the health minister regarding ‘waiting times’ for specialist care and surgeries. By the end of 2014, no patient should wait more

than four months from diagnosis for either specialist assessment or needed surgery.

And the final ‘top three’ priority, also involving stretching the resources further, will be planning and then achieving the $750 million in nation-wide health system savings targeted by the Government’s Health Benefits Limited program. This initiative aims to capture savings across the NZ health system by moving all DHBs into common financial and IT systems and consolidated procurement arrangements.

Meeting these financial and service delivery goals involves all sorts of tradeoffs and long range planning.

Focus on children Given his druthers, Atkinson would like to see more investment in the health of children, where early attention to health issues and healthy lifestyles would pay the greatest long-term dividends – both in quality of life for the individuals and in reduced medical care expense over their lifetimes.

He notes that by 2025 about half of all births in Hawke’s Bay will be to Mäori and Pasifika mothers, many in poverty situations where early health issues can be anticipated.

Here the challenge is to identify

tim.co.nz

Hospital treatment Apart from meeting the needs of

vulnerable populations, the DHB of course must provide the day-to-day care any of us might require. And again, financial and technological realities pose challenges.

We can no longer routinely assume that each and every medical treatment can be provided within a region of 150,000 residents, says Atkinson. And it’s not just an issue of specialist staffing; complex procedures are now heavily dependent upon expensive, rapidly evolving state-of-the-art technology. Any DHB’s ability to provide the best care is dependent upon access to both the talent and the technology. And while the HBDHB spends a huge sum to transport patients out of Hawke’s Bay (we account for 30% of the NZ spend on medical transportation), that amount would not buy and enable the best level of service at our local level.

So there is no question but that Hawke’s Bay will be sending patients to Wellington and Palmerston North.

That’s a reality patients and their families must adapt to. “I’d prefer to have the [highly technical] procedure in Wellington than not have it all … there’s a limit to what the country can afford,” says Atkinson. Fortunately, he suggests, for most of us this is a situation that might arise but once in a lifetime, if at all.

Atkinson says that increasingly Hawke’s Bay, from a health care perspective, operates in a larger ‘central region’ context – a region of 500,000 population served by six DHBs who are charged by government with finding more and more ways to collaborate and share resources.

Our goal should be to organise and Continued on Page 36

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the most vulnerable families early and approach their needs holistically.

Kindergartens and schools have a key role to play, as children are their ‘captured’ population. One program underway involves routine throat swabs for kids … families of any child who tests positive for Group A streptococcus are visited by a social worker who, with whänau, assess and aim to address a wide

range of factors, from healthier homes to required MSD services to appropriate primary care.

What this points out is that health improvement, particularly for disadvantaged populations, requires much more than additional ‘medical care’, narrowly defined. Housing quality, appropriate nutrition, cultural sensitivity and receptivity are additional factors that cannot be controlled by the DHB. The solutions involve a much greater degree of multi-agency cooperation, an area that Atkinson sees as a priority. But he notes that even that cooperation – whose need is obvious – cannot simply be mandated by the DHB. It must be a priority embraced willingly by all the relevant agencies.

There’s no ‘new news’ in the fact that Mäori and Pasifika health indicators lag in relation to our European population (national-wide, not only in Hawke’s Bay).

So why hasn’t more progress been made in closing the gap?

Atkinson looks to wider engagement with iwi and perhaps more focus to the targets we aim to achieve. “Perhaps we’ve had too many targets for this population, when we should focus more intently on just a few.” He gives the example of nutrition. “Perhaps we should aspire to be the healthiest region in New Zealand as measured by the food we eat.” He notes that we live in a region – “we’re the bloody fruitbowl after all!” – that should have no difficulty ensuring that every person has ample fresh fruit and vegetables. So why not set a healthy nutrition goal and mobilize around that?

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bloody hard decisions

About 80% of health dollars are devoted to the first and last year of life

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

36

provide the highest quality of care that can be afforded for that region, partly enabled by a new shared patient information system to be accessible throughout the central region. Within that larger area, we are capable of delivering 99% of our health services needs.

But what about improvements or enhancements to service right here in Hawke’s Bay? Atkinson sees heaps of opportunities, from after-hours care to improved health literacy to incentives within the system for innovation.

One area Atkinson notes is length of hospital stays.

It seems that our DHB has longer

average lengths of stay in the hospital for many treatments. More days in the hospital mean more expense and less availability of access for additional patients. At the same time, our longer in-hospital stays do not translate into lower re-admission rates, which arguably would be an offsetting benefit.

If HBDHB merely achieved the national averages for hospital stays across all procedures, it would save $2-3 million per year … money then available for other service enhancements. How is this being addressed? Delicately … would appear to be the answer.

DHB chief executive Kevin Snee in his September board report, commenting on a variety of performance issues, writes that internal consultation processes have “signaled a number of potential changes that would have an impact on the functioning of the hospital, with a key desire to change the culture of the organization to one which is better focused on the quality of patient care and productivity.” He goes on to mention “we have taken steps to bring in new service management for medicine and surgery, which will be in place by November, to bring some fresh eyes to the operational task.”

bloody hard decisions

Atkinson perhaps put it more plainly in recent remarks to Grey Power, referring to the need to “improve weekend and evening hospital staffing so that we get better outcomes and shorter stays.”

Primary care Another improvement would be to keep more people out of the hospital in the first place. At first blush, that seems a truism.

But the argument is that, in the right circumstances, better and less costly care can be provided out in the community, especially in the primary care system – from GPs to Mäori providers to home care for the elderly. Indeed, about half the health care funded by DHB is actually provided outside the hospital.

Atkinson believes that all of these relationships need to be expanded and improved in coming years, including, as he puts it “high trust contracts with Mäori health providers”.

More resources and skills need to be built into primary care teams and settings, he says. He expects to see fewer individual primary care practices, with more clinics instead – pointing to Wairoa’s new health care centre – providing group care with ‘one-stop shopping’ for related basic services like your GP visit, blood tests and X-rays. And in rural areas, more use of technology to reduce travel for services.

All of this ‘improvement’ cannot come from DHB planners and bureaucrats.

Atkinson foresees clinicians playing a stronger leadership role through the Clinical Council broadened to include clinicians outside the hospital. “Many of our clinicians [inside and outside the hospital] don’t even know each other,” he notes, adding that the goal should be to develop “common health care pathways” so that wherever or however a patient enters the system, they can expect the best possible treatment.

‘Patients’ have a role to play also, he emphasizes, starting by adopting healthier lifestyles and in fact showing up when they’ve scheduled clinic appointments – 20% of Mäori and 12% of Päkehä simply don’t show up as scheduled, effectively wasting clinicians’ time.

And finally, speaking of patients, Atkinson is enthusiastic about the DHB’s Consumer Council, under the energetic leadership of Graeme Norton, which Atkinson would like to see as “the voice of patients in all strategic health service decisions”.

That’s quite a menu for the next three years. But Kevin Atkinson clearly has complete command of the issues involved – from global trends and macro-economics, to the detail of hospital stays and patient information systems, to the nuances of dealing with cultural sensitivities, to the role

of good health in improving our overall social and economic wellbeing.

A true ‘Renaissance Man’ of health.

“Improving the health of our community improves everything in our region, from educational achievement to worker productivity.”

The newly-elected Hawke’s Bay District Health Board: (Plus four to be appointed by the health minister)

Kevin Atkinson, Peter Dunkerley, Diana Kirton, Jacoby Poulain, Helen Francis, Dan Druzianic, Heather Skipworth

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Photo rendering of the Rangitata Irrigation Scheme

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A Better Alternative for CHB? “Is it wise to put all our eggs in one dam basket?”

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

38

That’s the question asked by some farmers who would like access to irrigation water, but are concerned with the cost and environmental implications of the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS).

Are there alternatives that make more sense?

How about having every farm with its own hen house….commonly known as on-farm irrigation storage.

On-farm storage schemes on the South Island illustrate the alternative.

The last seven years has seen a surge in on farm water storage in Canterbury and now it’s revving up in Otago as well.

Andrew Rae, design manager for Rooney Earthmoving Ltd, has been involved with many of the irrigation storage ponds and races constructed in the South Island.

“On-farm storage provides the buffering or subsidiary storage for the larger intake ponds on the river. We use the fall of the land along the rivers to divert winter flows into a series of these large ponds and then the water is distributed through races to the participating farms. Cost calculations show that low tech river intake and on-farm

storage has a cost savings over a larger dam where storage occurs only on one site.”

The Rangitata South Irrigation Scheme moving toward completion is an example.

The scheme comprises 300 hectares of ponds up to eight metres deep beside the Rangitata River, providing 16.5 million m3 of water storage to irrigate 16,000 hectares through 70 kilometers of water transport races and 35 irrigation offtakes and meters. Each participating farmer needs to have 250m3 of water storage capacity for every hectare of land he intends to irrigate. According to Rooney Group, the price of on-farm water storage ponds works out to about $1.50 to $2.00 per cubic meter of capacity. The project value is approximately $82 million.

For farmers in Central Hawke’s Bay, there could be some striking benefits to this dispersed storage concept. Farmers would have the water they need for the season already on their farms and wouldn’t be vulnerable to the “Oops, sorry, we’ve run out already” scenario. The projects could be farmer driven, owned, and built strategically by adding on interlinked bits like a Mechano set, as demand warranted. It could reduce the environmental downsides of a huge dam structure which include: earthquake and

by ~ phyllis tichinin flash flood risk, unnatural summer flushes of silt-laden dam water, and increased nitrate leachate from wholesale intensification of farming on the Ruataniwha Plains.

Strategic irrigation delivered through a farmer-driven community scheme would be less likely to change the balance of farming enterprises than the blanket irrigation approach of the proposed RWSS corporate investor mega dam. The HBRC reports estimate 75% of the farms in CHB will change hands within five years of the scheme starting, and that intensive dairying will increase by five times.

The RWSS would force farmers to contract to take a set amount of water every year. The intensification to justify that irrigation commitment will result in high capitalisation costs, ongoing debt costs and higher input costs. Those investors buying into potentially irrigated land will pay top dollar. Both these realities violate the basic rules of profitable business which are to buy land or initial inputs cheaply and to keep overheads low.

If commodity prices go down, farmers in the RWWSS scheme would be vulnerable because they are locked into a high energy use and cost structure business as costs rise and returns drop.

of pond three metres deep provides 30,000m3 or enough irrigation water for ten hectares of land.

Farmer-controlled community water schemes could be created to undertake the withdrawal structures at stream-side and coordinate distribution of the water to ponds that farmers create on their own properties. Given the slope of the Ruataniwha Basin, it might be possible to have water intake points on several rivers or streams and arrange for interconnected races so that water could be gravity flowed, or even pumped, to eventually service the entire Ruataniwha Plains and equalise access to less expensive water.

River intake ponds and races are less complex and could be built quickly – in 12-24 months instead of the several years for construction of the proposed mega dam.

That could mean that current irrigation wells in places like Ashcott Road, which are under water take restrictions when the Tukituki is low, could be fed water sooner directly into their bores so that they could continue to pump through their existing water infrastructure, quickly and without as much risk of being restricted or shut down. The surplus winter take might also be pumped directly into the aquifer to recharge that important underground body of water.

But what about the hassle of permitting so many ponds and races? Experience in the South Island indicates that with a well thought out plan that has universal farmer support, the permitting required

by ECAN and the district councils has been minimal and pretty much hassle free. “It’s all quite simple, really,” says Andrew Rae of Rooney Earthmoving, “The councils see the advantages of these systems and are not creating permitting hurdles for the storage ponds.”

L and wanted

In contrast, the plan put forward by the HB Regional Council would preclude on-farm storage, in order to force farmers onto the dam scheme.

According to one CHB pastoral and cropping farmer, “We can increase productivity without a huge dam. Three to eight m3/hectare of irrigation water can provide a good economic return for farmers and encourage a return to cow/calf and breeding units which are needed for availability of animals for prime beef production. Find a way to distribute water that’s cheap for us to use so we can improve farm productivity and resilience in the current system. A shift to intensification of dairy/cropping exposes us to a huge risk that many don’t want.

We can be rather more productive with just a bit more water.”

The HBRC says it’s already looked at on-farm storage and found that it’s too expensive at $3 to $6 m3, but their report is only several paragraphs of very general comments and undocumented costs. No thorough cost analysis of on-farm storage as it might be applied in CHB has been conducted, and the estimated figures cited by HBRC are disputed by leading contractors in the industry, as noted above.

Indeed, an on-farm storage option might end up being cheaper than the dam. That comparison, grounded in robust empirical analysis should be available today, but is not.

When you take on board the enormity of the environmental impacts and ownership changes that will happen with the mega dam, it’s worth looking closely at a lower tech, community-driven solution for water in the Ruataniwha Basin. And in fact, examination of such an examination would seem required by the Resource Management Act.

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This is what happened in the US in the 1920s and 30s, resulting in the Dust Bowl and thousands of bank foreclosures on farms. The smaller farmers fail first, and corporate interests move in to take advantage of the discounted land prices.

Do farmers really want to be pressured into committing to a project that forces them to buy water each year, needed or not, and is so expensive that they have to either intensify or sell out? Many farmers in CHB want a simpler solution. They want the ability to irrigate only 40 to 80 hectares of a summer crop to fatten lambs, or safely put in a barley crop as part of pasture renovation.

They’d like water in a way that reduces their risks and increases their overall productivity without mortgaging the farm to the hilt.

On-farm storage is viable in hill country as well, not just on the plains. As Irrigation NZ chief executive Andrew Curtis recently commented in Straight Furrow (Oct 15): “There aren’t many hill country farms that haven’t got five or ten hectares of flat somewhere. It could definitely save your bacon in bad years.”

Storage ponds, similar to those on the Rangitata, alongside a river in our Ruataniwha basin could be filled from April to October by drawing water when stream flows are high. That water could then be distributed via races to on-farm ponds to be drawn down from November to March.

This approach could use the gravelly waste land that is often adjacent to rivers and streams in the area for the larger draw off ponds. In many places a natural embankment already exists that could serve as one side of those storage ponds.

Less productive paddocks on farm or the awkward corners of centre pivot paddocks could be turned into storage ponds of about ten hectares surface area. A hectare

39

TechFocus

Digital tourists dig deeper Among the flotsam and jetsam of web sites vying to represent Hawke’s Bay to locals and visitors, Keith Newman finds a sense of cohesion finally emerging.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

40

The first port of call for most visitors researching a destination for a holiday or a casual visit is an internet search for directions, attractions, events, restaurants, retailers and accommodation.

Visitors to Hawke’s Bay, however, may take a while deciding where to click and what to trust among the daunting clutter of domain and place name variations and the cyberspace junk of failed attempts at presenting the region’s offerings.

Among the websites claiming to provide visitor information for Hastings, Napier, Taradale, Havelock North, Wairoa and Central Hawke’s Bay are clumsy, outdated pages full of broken links and those more suited to a bygone era.

Somewhere on that first page of options, however, will be something of real value; possibly local council or community pages or one of the six or more i-Sites, although these are often packed with paidfor content driving you toward specific packages or destinations.

It’s becoming clearer too that every effort is being made to steer or redirect the curious toward the increasingly smart and sophisticated Tourism HB site as the go-to regional hub … 25,000 page views a month and climbing.

According to new research, Kiwi travellers who do their destination homework online are likely to spend up to 30% more than those who rely on travel agents, pore over brochures and guidebooks, or consult friends and family.

An August report from Roy Morgan Research says, in the year to May 2013, those using the web to make holiday decisions spent an average of $162 per person, $37 more than those using other sources.

It’s estimated 20% of holidaymakers use the internet for destination planning, up from 4% in 2001, and their spending is linked to comprehensive information rather than deals and discounts.

Ready for action Roy Morgan Research general manager, Pip Elliot, says it’s critical

Caption goes here for tourism operators and destination marketers to have a strong web presence that not only persuades people to visit, but encourages them to see and do all they can once they arrive.

George Miller and her husband Matt, directors of web marketing company Mogul, agree. Before heading to San Francisco for the America’s Cup earlier this year, they planned everything online.

“We searched the key things to do, the cool places to go, the best bars and restaurants, the good places for shopping and the malls.”

George says visitors to Hawke’s Bay should be able to research and plan online so there’s more time to go to the cafés, restaurants, bars and attractions rather than wandering around trying to work out where to go.

“Most travellers have smartphones but if they google and find what looks like a fantastic restaurant but it’s too hard to get to a menu or find the opening times that’s lost business.”

She says retailers and tourism providers need to optimise web sites for mobile users with ‘responsive designs’ that automatically reconfigure to mobile devices at the correct resolution.

However, most websites haven’t made the transition despite mobile usage

comprising about 30% of all internet traffic. “A lot of the legacy stuff leaves a bad impression. Access should be quick and easy; if it’s too hard that’s a lost lead and a bad user experience.”

Collaboration encouraged Apart from the dozens of pretenders, there are apparently nine official web sites for the wider region. HB Tourism’s Annie Dundas would like to see that change through a more collaborative effort from councils and providers.

“We could be better organised around how Hawke’s Bay presents itself to the consumer. HB Tourism is the only one spending on search engine marketing in that space so why don’t we pool resources and have one bloody brilliant site?”

If there was better information sharing, Dundas says, this would help avoid confusion and enable better presentation of content. “If we’re all developing, maintaining and marketing sites we’re actually competing with each other and that seems kinda nuts to me.”

One of the regional tourism organisation’s triumphs is its online events calendar which serves up information from a single source. Dundas and her team want all councils and tourism groups to get on board to avoid conflicting dates and ensure

better exposure for everyone.

Mogul was involved in developing the digital strategy for the HB Tourism web presence and setting up the events site. It uses Eventfinder with coded links to pull registered local events into the regional site and share this with other sites ensuring compatibility with mobile devices.

Web search still winner Despite the talk in recent years about technologies that might revolutionise retail and tourism, Miller reckons QR codes and geographically-based apps have either been badly deployed or not yet found their niche.

While QR codes are “huge in Japan”, a Mogul experiment in Havelock North during the Rugby World Cup, saw only 20 people take up a free offer to use code stickers as web site short cuts.

Map-based apps that direct people to particular locations may have a place in destination tourism but Miller suggests no one’s nailed the best way to do that yet.

“People are reluctant to download apps unless they’re related to social media, news or music; if they do, they rarely use them, although it will come…Mostly they google it and click on the most trustworthy looking site.”

Affirming Havelock North as ‘The Village’ adds to the refresh of branding across the region in recent years. Central Hawke’s Bay is pitched as ‘lamb country’, Hastings as ‘the heart of Hawke’s Bay’, Napier ‘the Art Deco capital of the world’ and regionally “wine country” and the tagline “Get yourself to Hawke’s Bay’ have become dominant.

Fruitbowl fibre focus The ‘Fruitbowl of New Zealand’, despite its rural authenticity as a regional descriptor, was deemed in the late 1990s to have passed its use-by date. Ironically it’s been hijacked by a group of technology innovators and bloggers to promote new ideas including a

Why should you subscribe to BayBuzz?

BayBuzz delivers depth. With insider perspectives. Range of viewpoints, strongly presented. Issues and topics that matter.

“Most people travelling have smartphones, but if they google and find what looks like a fantastic restaurant and it’s too hard to get to a menu or find the opening times you can lose business.” george miller, mogul broadband enhanced future for the Bay. Fruitbowl.co.nz is supporting Napier as Gigatown New Zealand in the Chorus competition to light up one provincial town with gigabit internet connectivity, hoping to attract more software developers and digital age businesses to the region.

One blogger suggests this would balance Napier’s Art Deco roots in the past by giving it a foothold in the future and a much broader base for economic activities than retirees reliving their youth.

Meanwhile, much of Hawke’s Bay’s international tourism inquiries are directed through Tourism New Zealand’s newzealand.com site, where destinations are categorised by region. Much is made of Hawke’s Bay as ‘wine country’, New Zealand’s Art Deco centre, and the ‘cycling capital of New Zealand’.

The specifics of Napier, Hastings, Havelock North and Waipukurau are found under the menu item: ‘towns’. HB Tourism’s Annie Dundas says no one seems too concerned about that and with regular content updates – including critical data in Chinese – she’s confident the region will get its share of interest from the 14 million users a year.

Once you know which sites are current, have the coolest content and are optimised to deliver the best of the Bay to mobile devices, the flotsam and jetsam soon gets ignored and as the search engines recognise where the action is, those legacy pages will slowly fade.

From a BayBuzz reader:

“Articles are always well presented, clearly articulated and carry a substance that is refreshing.”

BayBuzz is only available on annual subscription or for $5 per issue. Subscribe now at www.baybuzz.co.nz!

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

Village primps presence Mogul was also responsible for redeveloping the Hastings site, visithastings.co.nz in 2009 when the city rebranded itself ‘the Heart of Hawke’s Bay’. When the Havelock North Information Centre changed hands it seemed logical to get involved in reshaping that web presence as well.

The centre, now a fully staffed i-Site, originally established in 2006 by former Havelock North Business Association president Bart Thompson, had touted the ‘jewel of the Bay’ and ‘the heart of wine country’ branding.

While the Hastings District Council now owns the i-Site, the Havelock North Business Association, (HNBA), acquired the havelocknorthnz.com domain name to maintain control over affirming The Village branding.

Committee member George Miller was asked to develop a single destination focus, blending it with the havelocknorth.co.nz site, to promote “the greatest little village in the world” while maintaining support for the regional tourism approach and Hawke’s Bay branding.

The new site features a directory to generate business leads, showcase the village and encourage locals to shop locally. Content includes history, attractions, schools, clubs and associations and anything else visitors or those “looking for a great place to live” might need to know. “We wanted to manage our own identity and voice for what happens in the village,” says Miller.

She says the new, responsive, relatively simple site delivers a low maintenance

option to be part of the virtual village profile, with help available to assist smaller retailers and owner operators build their online presence.

The Village profile has a consistent tone and style for email bulletins, Facebook presence and events ladder, unlike “a lot of destination sites that are overloaded with information” making it difficult to focus on the key things.

41

Celebrating Rural Education by ~ claire hague, EIT Deputy Chief Executive

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

42

I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at a national conference of Rural and Teaching Principals held in Napier recently. The impact that these educational leaders have on children and their families within their mainly small, isolated communities cannot, in my view, be overestimated.

I know this first-hand, because I spent the first years of my life in a small rural community called Mokai, not far from Taupö. My parents taught at the twoteacher school there, and I, along with my brother who was born there, attended school with all the school-aged children. As a pakeha family we were embraced by the Mäori community – the kids looked out for me and my brother, and Mum and Dad became part of the educational and social life of the community.

For me, then, school was a magic place, and inextricably linked in my earliest memories with family, friends, and general feelings of wellbeing and security. It’s perhaps not an accident then that I have spent all my working life in schools and the education system generally. I believe those early years shaped my development

in crucial ways that have impacted on me since. They have influenced my choice of friends, my educational and professional goals, and my increasingly strong belief that New Zealand should be – and in many areas is – an inclusive, diverse society, just like the one I was so fortunate to be nurtured in half a century ago.

When I was Principal at Napier Girls’ High School, I again witnessed the power of a rural community upbringing and education. Most of the 150 girls in the hostel were from that background.

At first they viewed coming to a large urban secondary school with trepidation.

They were worried that their academic knowledge would not be up to scratch; that they wouldn’t cut the mustard in the top sports teams and cultural activities; they wouldn’t cope with so many students in one place; in short that the urban kids would be way ahead of them in every aspect of their new phase of schooling.

In fact, the opposite proved very often to be true. My observations of students from rural schools were that they more than held their own in academic and extra-curricular areas; their social skills were second to none; and they earned huge respect and affection from ‘day’ girls whose education and communities were

vastly different from their own.

I think they did all these things because their rural primary schooling had embedded within them some wonderful skills and attributes. Resilience was key, along with a love of learning, and an ability to relate to people of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Most of all, they had an innate sense of being a valued and valuable person, and therefore someone with something to contribute to their school and their community.

In my current role at EIT I have been again fortunate to witness the power of rural education at first hand.

In rural communities from Ruatoria to Porangahau, people from the age of 16 to 70 are availing themselves of tertiary education that can be delivered into their communities – from agriculture to trades, from horticulture to hospitality.

Some of these people lost their way in education during their teenage years.

Others just want to learn within their own communities, something that we citydwellers take for granted.

As these students come through the tertiary system and want to study at increasingly higher levels, the challenge has become to explore the delivery of degree and post-graduate programmes

Tiny Claire Hague begins her academic career

The rural school bus showed off their projects and their new sets of skills to their East Coast whänau.

Mothers and sisters got the hair and beauty treatment. Fathers and brothers watched as students raced mini-bikes they had engineered and built for the secondary school champs at Manfield, cheered on by primary school kids from the local kura. Everyone availed themselves of the food made and served by the hospitality students. Once again I felt the magic that I had experienced as a little girl – being welcomed into a rural, mainly Mäori community where all people felt valued and valuable, and made me feel the same.

So I’d like to finish where I began – by celebrating the unique contribution rural educators and their communities are making to current and future generations of New Zealanders. Your work is valued.

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into rural communities. Technology is making this increasingly possible, with a variety of online and ‘blended’ courses now available from a range of tertiary organisations across the country.

EIT has done a lot of work in this area, spurred on by its merger with Tairäwhiti Polytechnic, which has brought to us a whole new group of East Coast

communities with very high aspirations for their own education and that of their children and grandchildren.

The challenge for us, and for the country, is to not just make tertiary courses available for rural communities.

We need to do that within a learning model that instils the resilience and sense of personal value that is needed for people to translate their higher education into a meaningful contribution – and one that recognises and addresses the increasingly fragile social and economic wellbeing of many rural communities.

I was privileged to attend a Trades Academy Open Day in Ruatoria last year. Secondary school students from the East Coast and Gisborne who had been studying at tertiary level one day per week on EIT’s Gisborne campus

43

THE BEST YEARS OF

OUR LIVES

by ~ K AY BAZZARD

Gavin Smith, butler to Lord Marcus Seiff

Does a farmer really ever retire?

During their working lives they are asset rich and cash poor while having to work incredibly hard physically and in the process acquire a huge range of skills. They really need to retire when their bodies tell them their time is up.

The official retirement age is really not a consideration.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

44

Some manage to adapt to town life, while others cannot bring themselves to be surrounded by suburbia and live on the edges of town. The Mitchells of Eland Station were able to sell their farm and retain the houses, keeping the dogs, a few sheep and cattle. After selling his farm, Gavin Smith became a successful painter. And Jonathan Dasent makes useful and charming wooden furniture and toys. But they all had similar stories.

Bola, droughts and Rogernomics For each of them the 1980s was a very difficult period as it was for most East Coast farmers and they all recalled that period with some distress. Its markers were Cyclone Bola and two severe droughts; however it was the changes wrought by Rogernomics in the middle

of that decade when farming subsidies were removed almost overnight that changed farmers’ belief in the viability of the family farm. When it coincided with a frightening escalation in bank interest rates many farmers walked off the land, such was the level of debt.

Off-farm income became essential for farming families and it was the wives who took up work in town travelling long distances each day. Helen Dasent and Rae Mitchell loved this change in their circumstances, with Rae going on to work for Corrections Hawke’s Bay for twenty years. It freed the women to develop their own careers while becoming a very important part of the farm’s economic survival, including paying for their children’s boarding education and university fees.

Prior to that time, farms would pass from father to son, in a smooth succession of generations, each adding their individual contributions to the development of the farm, the land and its buildings. New Zealand was a nation of farmers who broke in the land, built up a worthwhile landholding and made their mark.

Gavin and Judy Smith Not having a family history of farm ownership, Gavin and Judy farmed in the hills outside Gisborne, first as farm managers and then buying 1,000 acres of bush-covered land at Ngatapa in 1978.

Gavin broke in the land, 150 acres per year for seven years, clear felling, burning off, fertilising and sowing grass. Then there was roading, stockyards and buying the stock and this was partially funded by government farm development incentive schemes. They borrowed hugely, and then came the 1980s.

By the early 1990s they were exhausted, disheartened and sick of being poor so they sold up to a forestry consortium. They were now debt free with a changed lifestyle, so with great relief they set off to the UK for two years where their Kiwi attitude and skills were in demand, serving the rich and famous.

They worked at Lord Sieff’s Berkshire estate (the founder of Marks and Spencer) with Gavin as butler, togged out in a white jacket and black trousers,

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Judy as cook. She quickly upskilled to provide the menus required for the Sieff’s lunches and dinners each weekend when Lord and Lady Sieff returned from London. All week they had the place to themselves as they prepared for their weekend responsibilities.

It was well-paid work and a rich experience for the Kiwi couple. Today they live in a comfortable home just outside town, providing hospitality to paying guests, while Gavin has a successful career as a watercolour artist, frame maker and art tutor.

How things have changed Today, our farming population is much smaller. Attitudes to farm inheritance have changed – it is no longer viable to split the farm between the kids as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. Farms are big business; they have become huge corporate landholdings as family farms are sold up and land usage changes from sheep and beef to forestry and dairying.

In the examples I looked at, not one of the farms had passed to the children of the farmers in today’s economic reality. However, there is little sadness or sentimentality in the hearts of these couples, most spoke of the relief of

“Attitudes to farm inheritance have changed – it is no longer viable to split the farm between the kids as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age.”

Jonathan Dasent selling up and retiring debt free, while they still had the energy to enjoy life.

They had moved on.

Besides, there was not much point in planning for succession when none of the kids was interested in taking on a life of farming when education will provide them with options for a gentler, wealthier lifestyle. The kids had, after all, watched their parents as they struggled to survive the ups and downs of farming, the effects of serious weather events and economic hardship, and they had little taste for repeating it themselves.

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Jonathan Dasent Jonathan now lives in Havelock North, having sold his farm at the age of 56. The farm in Mangatahi near Maraekakaho had been in the family since 1906. It had been split a few times; a son had died in the War; droughts had taken their toll; neighbouring land was bought and added to the landholding and then split up again as Jonathan and his brother took over their shares of the family farm.

Horses were a huge part of Jonathan’s life. He learned to ride as a small child and had an extraordinary affinity with them inherited from his father who was also a skilled horseman. Polo was his recreation of choice, but a fall broke his pelvis at age 46 and he no longer rides.

The skills learnt from a lifetime of farming have led him into carpentry.

He makes and sells his wares and I first came across his wooden horse swings at the Strawberry Patch when my grandchildren clamoured for a ride.

As we talked we sat in his ‘Morris’ chairs and settle, his version of the arts and crafts style furniture so favoured in the early 20th century.

The Mitchells of Eland Station The Mitchells kept the family houses at Eland Station when they sold last year and still live there. The farm is now a forestry block owned by an overseas investor.

The Mitchell brothers, Dennis and Kevin, married two sisters, Lesley and Rae, and have worked in partnership since they took over the farm in their 20s. They are each other’s best friends and their six children are like siblings.

There have never been any arguments and it is an extraordinarily successful family and business relationship.

The Mitchells (all in their 50s) sold up knowing that none of the kids wanted to take over the farm, and while they had the energy to make the most of this decade of their lives and fully participate with grandchildren. Travel, sport and community work are high on their list of retirement activities. Kevin is a life member of Federated Farmers and recently stood for election as a regional councillor. He will continue his lifelong involvement in supporting the rural community.

45

Michael Whittaker’s vision to replace the Albert Hotel

Hastings CBD A Revitalisation in Motion by ~ michael whittaker

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

46

Hastings CBD is widely thought of as the ugly sister to Napier’s art deco tourism glory, but it’s not. She has certainly faded from the boom times in the 1960s and 70s, when Hastings was the fastest growing town in New Zealand with a vibrant CBD, late night shopping and some of the best independent retailers in the country.

But it’s time for a change and it’s starting to happen.

There’s no doubt there are challenges.

Hastings CBD has an image problem largely crafted by the media on perception rather than reality. Truthfully, the reality is mixed. We have a small minority causing issues with law and order, but so do many towns in New Zealand. A recent increase in the visibility of police, the Hastings Council Assist Programme and Mäori wardens on the streets are moves designed to reduce these issues. Time will tell, but I believe it’s working.

Then there is the elephant in the room – the earthquake issue. We have a large number of older character and art deco buildings that do not comply with earthquake codes. The economic reality is that some buildings are going to cost much more than they are worth to meet code.

This can either be seen as a problem or an opportunity – Hastings has the chance to modernise the underlying infrastructure in the CBD, therefore increasing its value and attractiveness to new business, while at the same time managing any new streetscapes to ensure the character of the area is maintained and enhanced. Of course landlords have many years to complete remedial work, but if we want the CBD to thrive again, we must be proactive and encourage landlords and business owners to develop and be progressive. Otherwise, over time we will end up with pockets of untenanted, rundown buildings throughout the CBD. The way people work, shop and entertain themselves has also changed.

In many towns, both here and overseas, people are spending a lot of their discretionary time and income in community clusters either close to work or home.

Hastings has a strong core of professional businesses, but they do not stay in the CBD after work to shop, eat or be entertained. Visitors to the Opera House do not stay in the CBD to dine

Hastings CBD needs serious refurbishing

before or after shows and, although there are some lovely motels, there are no 3 or 4 star hotels to accommodate visitors within walking distance. We have a low density sprawl with no focal areas of high activity.

Challenge? Yes. Opportunity?

Absolutely. So what are the positives?

Hastings is the economic hub of Hawke’s Bay. We have a strong professional base supported by progressive horticultural and agricultural businesses. We have a vibrant group of small independent food producers, artisans and retailers that attract interest and create diversity to support the national chain stores. We have a wonderful asset in the Opera House and its ability to draw people into the CBD for events. We have Civic Square which has untapped potential as a venue and gathering place.

We have a council that is highly supportive of rejuvenating the CBD and is demonstrating this through projects such as the Skate Park and their progressive draft CBD plan. We have an invigorated Central Business Association who are passionate about bringing the life back to Hastings through concepts such as

the upcoming Twilight Markets. We also have Horse of the Year, recognised as one of the best equestrian events in the southern hemisphere, which brings in an enormous number of people and our iconic Farmers’ Market with a fantastic nationwide reputation.

What we need is focus on strategic density, bringing clusters of related businesses together. This has already started with the Opera House precinct as an arts and entertainment hub. And with the recent upgrade of the new Hawke’s Bay Today offices, that part of the ‘East’ is gaining momentum. For the first time, we have office workers back on Heretaunga Street interacting with the streetscape.

As a city, we need to continue to build more strong precincts to support this revitalisation of the CBD. High street shopping, hospitality, professional services, arts and entertainment. We need to reduce the sprawl and increase our inner city density – bringing people together. We want them to work, eat, shop and play from one car park.

That’s the vision I have for the Albert Precinct. The Albert Hotel has long been an eyesore and a hindrance to development in Heretaunga Street East.

Its current state of disrepair means that it cannot economically be saved, so it will make way for an example of what

the CBD can become – Albert Square.

When all stages are completed, Albert Square will combine office space, cafes, restaurants, retail and open space in a character precinct. Although it will be relatively self-contained, it will draw people in from neighbouring areas to work, shop or dine and push them out to areas such as the Opera House, the movie theatres, restaurants and surrounding retailers.

I’ve seen many examples of CBDs that do or don’t work and many examples of struggling areas that have become amazing social hubs. Hastings has a far better starting point than many people realise. No, we don’t have the population to sustain something as large and diverse as Auckland’s Britomart or the New York Meatpackers District, but we can model ourselves on these urban communities and the way they draw people in and keep them in the area for a variety of reasons. And that is exactly what the development of these precincts will do.

It may sound ‘big-city’, but it’s not. It’s about developing a community, giving people an excuse to come into the CBD and many excuses to stay once they’ve arrived. If you’re planning drinks after work, don’t go to Napier or Havelock North, stay in Hastings. If you have

“We need to reduce the sprawl and increase our inner city density – bringing people together.

We want them to work, eat, shop and play from one car park.”

Michael Whittaker, entrepreneur friends in town for the weekend, bring them to Hastings for the day. It’s about attracting businesses with modern office infrastructure, great entertainment options and a pleasant environment.

But most importantly it’s about creating a concentration of people in all precinct areas for it to be vibrant, attractive and selfsustaining. Hastings CBD is on the move and there is an ever-growing, enthusiastic group of people driving the change.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

47

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Legend Comprehensive Residential Development Hastings City Living Zone Hastings City Living Zone Residential

Comprehensive Residential Development

Suburban Commerical

Proposed Suburban Commercial Zone (currently zoned general residential)

Hastings Character Residential

Hastings

District Plan Review …

A Balancing Act HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL

Map Produced using ArcMap michaelww

I

Projection: NZTM Datum: D_NZGD_2000

Scale 1:20,000

210

105

0

210

420

630

840

Meters

DATA SOURCE: Cadastral information derived from the Land Information New Zealand's Core Record System (CRS).

CROWN CO PYRIGHT RESERVED

Original Size: A3 Date: Thursday, 24 October 2013

COPYRIG HT: Copyright in this drawing is owned by the Hastings District Council. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the whole or a substantial part of the work in two or three dimensions is an infringement of copyright.

DISCLAIMER: The Hastings District Council cannot guarantee that the data shown on this map is 100% accurate.

by ~ anthony vile

The election noise is thankfully over. Time to settle back into three more years of ‘head down, bum up’ ongoing work. One of the projects keeping our public servants busy is the review of the Hastings District Plan.

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

48

Development rulebook The District Plan (DP) is a document legally required by the Local Government Act to define the nature of development for a district or city council. In essence, it is a set of rules dictating what we can and cannot do as of right in our backyard. It sets trigger points for council involvement via resource consent processes, as well as defining good practice and criteria for assessment.

“The Hastings District Plan provides the means for the people of the Hastings District to manage the effects of the use, development and protection of the natural and physical resources within the Hastings District. It guides and controls how land is used, developed or protected in order to avoid or lessen the impact of any adverse effects.”

By law every statutory authority must have a DP and must review it every ten years to make sure development rules remain current, are reflective of community

aspirations, as well as allowing for a sufficient land supply for both residential and commercial/ industrial activity, economic development and employment growth.

It is an opportunity to integrate strategic vision and community aspiration in a statutory document.

The review process A draft version of the revised DP was presented in meetings around the district in April into June. 312 submissions were received and public presentations to a hearing committee were encouraged.

Comments were taken on board where council officers saw merit and each submitter was entitled to a written response.

“As a draft, the Plan has no legal status under the Resource Management Act. The reason for releasing a draft, is to give the community a feel for the direction that the Council is proposing to take in its review, and provide an opportunity to comment on an informal basis.”

A daunting piece of work on all accounts, but a box has been ticked and the process has moved a step closer to becoming law.

The ‘official’ draft DP will soon be notified with all revisions based on informal comments in place. The public will then have the chance to make formal comments on the document and go through a formal hearings process.

The timeframe for comments is 9 November through 14 February, just in time for some holiday reading. Any aspects of the plan that are not submitted on become operative by default. A process follows where submissions are reviewed, a few more boxes are ticked, and – presto – the District development direction is cemented for the next ten years.

Development is the word The draft DP is no lightweight bedside reading! It’s a copious volume of policy and rules focused on what is and isn’t allowed in our built environment, compressed into a whopping 1,088 pages.

That’s too much to examine in any detail in this article. Instead, I will try to highlight from my point of view – as a Hawke’s Bay-based, internationally trained, urban designer – some of the key areas of change

Strategic2

worthy of consideration, scrutiny and applause, as appropriate.

To get a taste of the draft DP, I conducted a word search to identify some of the key focus areas in the document.

The prize for most used word goes to ‘development’ – 2,372 instances, which rightly confirms that the theme of the plan is district development! No rocket science there.

The word ‘amenity’ is counted 1,071 times – the counter to development and a key concern of the plan and those authoring it.

The balance between development and amenity is what the document, in the end, is charged with brokering. This in itself highlights a fundamental conundrum.

Development and amenity have a strained relationship at the best of times – control versus the free market, rules versus freedom, the opinion of technocrats versus individual taste, and of course, the right of the individual versus the greater good.

Other notable words include: manage (1,039), design (873), parking (722), quality (252), mitigate (229), control (233), density (212), sustainable (210), urban design (128), and fences (135).

Some interesting ‘laggards’ include: balance (62), versatile soils (49), architecture (6), and productive soils (5).

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Planned intensification Driven by the regional policy statement (RPS 4) and the Heretaunga Plains Urban Development Strategy (HPUDS), the DP review has come to the party to lay the groundwork for a housing

intensification programme.

‘Planned intensification’, to assist with meeting future demand for housing in Hastings is to be provided for.”

In the name of protecting the precious soils, a regional push to counter sprawl has predicated areas where higher density suburbs could be developed. This current District Plan review has taken the opportunity to put some detail into HPUDS to allow for ‘strategic’ implementation of policy and roll out in those HPUDSspecified areas. Some have been deferred, such as Haumoana/Te Awanga; some have been largely ignored, such as Hastings CBD; and others have been given a clear green light, like Mahora.

The choice of areas for intensification has been based on proximity to commercial zones, proximity to parks, as well as capacity of existing infrastructure to cope with increased loads.

Predictions on future demand are based on Statistics NZ data and a range of growth scenarios. Figures just released indicate Hastings District has grown only 5,820 residents since 2001 (from 67,425 to 73,245), or only 0.7% per year (485 people).

The HPUDS assumption is a growth of 6.3% or 8,255 new Hawke’s Bay arrivals in the period 2015 of to 2045.

Creating density A Comprehensive Residential Zone has been created to enable what it suggests: “Comprehensive Residential Development’, where multiple residential units are planned in an integrated way and enable better amenity.”

Minimum lot sizes (250m2 per residential dwelling, or 40 DPH) are prescribed for comprehensive development to occur.

The premise is that multiple sites could be Continued on Page 50

»

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

New directions For the last thirty years, the district has had a ‘one size fits all’ system for controlling residential development in urban areas – an ‘any development is good development’ approach that is past its use-by date. The same rules have been applied to a residential property whether in Central Hastings, Havelock North or Flaxmere. That is about to change significantly.

A new regime of residential zoning rules is

been launched, the objective of which is: “To enable residential growth in Hastings by providing for suitable intensification of housing in appropriate locations.”

However, the horse has already bolted on unsuitable infill, which has conspired to destroy the garden city aspect of the district over the last thirty years. It is difficult to find a street in Hastings that hasn’t been peppered with infill to the benefit of a baby boomer’s retirement fund. Low minimum site requirements of 350 m2 have allowed for some fairly high density, low amenity areas to develop.

Density of housing development is measured in Dwellings per Hectare (DPH). Traditional pavlova paradise has been around 12-14 DPH, but infill development under current rules has allowed up to 28 DPH. Infill development is an issue much bigger than the Hastings district; it is at the core of a national debate around housing affordability and Kiwis’ cultural attitudes to property and housing. ‘Urban intensification’ is also an issue of national scale. A term that has caused much nimbyism, political wrangling, closed door dealings and PR billings.

Aiming to solve issues of national significance is optimistic at best for a district the size of Hastings. Shouldn’t issues of national scale be left to central government to solve, leaving local government to get on with what they are best at? We have national standards for all kinds of things, why not design?

So now, perhaps thirty years too late for Hastings, rules are about to be put in place redefining what ‘character’ is and what you can or can’t build where.

The District Plan review has thankfully highlighted the need to maintain ‘character’ in certain areas of Havelock North and Hastings and has established specific zones of residential character.

Hastings has 13 proposed Character areas to which varying degrees of protection apply. They have been identified based on technical reports and consultant feedback and are generally interested in maintaining pre-1950s character.

Alongside and overlapping with areas of character are two other new zones affecting residential development – the City Living zone and Comprehensive Residential zone. A general residential zone remains in place, but minimum lot sizes increase from 350m2 to 400m2.

49

district plan review

Will character homes give way to intensification?

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

50

purchased to create a super site (minimum 1400 m2) of enough scale to predicate an integrated development approach much like townhouses of yesteryear.

Assessment criteria have been proposed for projects in this zone including “Whether the development is an appropriate architectural quality, is aesthetically pleasing and contributes positively to the surrounding area.” Site orientation and project utilisation of passive solar capacity is one forwardthinking criteria introduced in this zone.

Methods for evaluation are not outlined, but there are many models to draw on. Urban designers and urban design panels are a valuable resource to other councils in this respect. It will be interesting to see how the council’s own development on Fitzroy Avenue will stand up to the new assessment criteria of “appropriate” quality, without being vetted for design quality.

“Comprehensive Residential Development can occur subject to meeting assessment criteria and evaluation to ensure it is designed to carefully fit in and respect the particular characteristics of that area.”

The City Living Zones are based on the idea of sites closer to the inner city being more suitable to higher density living. The zoned areas are located in close proximity to Mahora shops and Cornwall Park, and around local shops on Heretaunga Street East and the open space of Queens Square and are tagged to provide more choice than what the current market provides. Proposed site areas are 250m² average minimum with a maximum site size of 350 m².

“The City Living Zone is essential to the successful implementation of HPUDS in achieving a more compact urban area.”

These new residential zones sit in uneasy alliance. The premise of intensification around parks, especially Cornwall Park and Queens Park, is somewhat at odds with the retention of character.

Minimum site sizes are required for the comprehensive model, which will mean developers need multiple sites cleared to create a higher density product. This seems to pose a threat to the character of the area being developed. Will the assessment criteria and method of assessment be robust enough to prevent this from happening?

There is a risk the amenity of some

character zones around parks will be compromised. The plan is trying to protect with one hand, while allowing an untested model with the other. That is the planner’s conundrum. Developers’ yields would potentially double, with no clear process for targeting development contributions back into the affected community. Meanwhile, existing public amenity can be seen as adding value to the developer’s project. Not a bad deal.

Higher density living definitely requires greater access to parks and public space than the ‘garden city’ model. However, this does not mean higher density housing should be located near existing parks and high public amenity areas. There is potentially a recipe for compromise.

Generally, intensification is targeted in areas with transport and commercial nodes or along arterials, with large brownfield sites prioritized. Developers should be compelled to provide quality public space as part of their planning, placing the responsibility for amenity on developers rather than the community.

Compact cities with a high regard for design and public space are by necessity the way of the future and the council should be applauded for taking this approach.

The difficulty arises in ensuring quality. A medium density design guide is in the works; it will be interesting to see how it adds detail to the DP once published.

We need not approach urban intensification naively; rather we should take aboard the options, research and best practice examples and mistakes of the last thirty years. Ultimately the DP provides a great opportunity for the region to lead.

We need to be sure there is robust discussion and understanding of the issues the DP sets out to address in its proposed re-jigging of residential development rules, and that the idealism inherent in the planning profession comes to the fore providing the means for the people of the Hastings District to manage the effects of land use, and development.

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Bloody Minded Opinion by ~ fane flaws

Well, Tom has asked for an article on ‘Creativity in the Bay’. Let’s be straight up here - I’m no authority on anything and I barely ever leave my shed - so I’m only going to write about who and what I know firsthand ... my personal, perverted perspective, on what appears to be happening in and about the fringes of my strange, introverted world ... A few words about a mere handful of my clever friends ... Does that interest you? Read on, McDuff ...

Jo Blogg (It’s not your perfect legs, or your collection of collections)

sunbathing schedule but somehow she found the time to make the work - I suspect she employed ‘The Thing’.

Pins & Needles One day she showed me an old Chinese proverb she had come across on the internet.

“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time or circumstance. The thread may strech or tangle but will never break.”

This was the catalyst for the show following this thread, she eventually discovered exactly how all the instinctively gathered ‘pins & needles’ related material, was bound together.

She turned her ten retired bowling-pins into Knitting Nancies, a set of huge French knitting dolls each with its own ten-metres of red French knitting (the red thread).

She painted the hundred glass rolling pins (seven layers of paint each) with patronising, irritating or abusive terms for women and titled it In Your Opinion. The research for this left her both staggered and amused at the seemingly endless lexicon for females, while the bloke’s equivalent petered out in the 20s.

Using smoke and mirrors, she formed the 5,000 plastic knitting needles into a huge 20,000 piece ‘iris like’ mandala, and mustered the hundred found tapestries into a beautiful naive cloud titled A Stitch In Time. Adding to these large pieces with Pin Tins, a small set of ten classic pale blue pin-tins, each adorned with exquisite relief sculptures, constructed with hundreds of stainless steel pins, she had a stunning and provocative set of works.

The whole thing has come together in a cohesive unit designed in her mind to fit the actual space at the HCAG and accompanied by a gorgeous catalogue with a wonderful insightful, no-art-speakbullshit essay by international art writer Dr Bille Lythberg who totally ‘gets it’! Don’t miss this show - Hawkes Bay is home to a remarkably original female artist and the world awaits.Why does she get the biggest rave here? Because I can’t say enough about her work and she also has hot legs.

Continued on Page 54

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

The most creative person I know is the amazing artist Jo Blogg. On Friday 18 October, her third solo show Pins & Needles opened to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Hastings City Art Gallery (HCAG).

I have had the pleasure of watching this artist create this remarkable body of work, over an intense nine month gestation and find it very interesting how she develops a concept both intuitively and intellectually, quite aside from her painstakingly obsessive, physical practice.

The creative process for her, usually begins years before the seed idea is ever germinated. Jo Blogg is a natural born collector. For this show, she has opshopped and hoarded every coloured plastic knitting needle in the province, made a lucky bid on 100 glass rolling pins she stumbled on at the local auction, wheedled a set of battered, past their useby, ten-pin bowling skittles, and haggled a huge collection of second hand tapestries, and thousands of steel pins into her studio.

I am frankly always bewildered as to how she will eventually hone a ‘pile of old tat’ into a beautiful enigmatic artwork, but am no longer surprised when she does.

The tiniest embryo of an idea takes hold somewhere in her constant, unstoppable mind-blender, and is turned inside-out day and night until it begins to grow into a concept she feels compelled to develop.

The mental gymnastics continue constantly

while she fills her immaculate work books with drawings, quotes, poems, articles and photographs; anything that somehow relates, however tangentially, to the ethos of the idea she has drawn with her private bucket from the cosmic well. Once the concept gels, there is a widened search for a particular ‘found object’ she has realised to be crucial to the plot. For this she employs ‘The Thing’.

‘The Thing’ is her term for what is surely a cosmic principle of manifestation.

She applies it without prejudice to find anything she needs. A tartan coat or a lime green pair of stilettos, tools or utensils to achieve a specific task, some exotic ingredient for a West Indian curry, objects of any denomination to complement and complete her artistic vision. She will look up from a magazine she is skimming or a song lyric she is ignoring and say “That’s what I need - bakerlite swizzle sticks with pineapple knobs on!... green ones!.....a hundred of them!”, and lo and behold, sometime in the next month on TradeMe or at some obscure garage sale, there they will be - exactly what she has envisioned. It is uncanny to the point of mystical and a constant reminder of the plasticity of the universal fabric which will eventually fill any matrix imagined by a strong unwavering mind, with the real thing.

Jo Blogg is physically and mentally incapable of any version of stillness. After a full days work painting a few thousand dots, she relaxes at night watching telly or a movie. This seems to slow her mind down a bit - still cruising, only in the left lane, but her hands are still at work. She is a constant knitter and crocheter, endlessly producing garments, blankets and tapestries in her downtime. She demolishes daily, the facetious crack by ‘Art Bitch’ Douglas Loyd Jenkins about local artists being too preoccupied with the weather and our cushy local lifestyle, to produce work of any consequence. To be fair to Douglas he probably knows this and commissioned Jo to decorate the glass partitions, dividing the offices of the new MTG. As you can imagine, this cut viciously into her

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Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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tony backhouse

leanne & Brian culy

(Where are the newspaper taxis?)

(I’m not going home I’m having too much fun!)

One of my oldest, dearest friends and a very welcome new addition to the neighbourhood, Tony Backhouse, a great singer, and brilliant musician, arranger and composer, has moved here with his wife Marianne, a fashion designer and singer. What a creative boost to Napier music they will prove to be - they have already started a Community Choir.

While he still travels the world teaching rapturously received workshops in the ‘Black Gospel’ tradition, and arranging vocals for recording artists (“He is simply one of the best in the world!” - Tim Finn), Backhouse is here to concentrate on recording in his rambling home studio on the Hill.

A prolific songwriter and composer, Tony has a catalogue of wonderful songs that reflect influences from James Brown to David Bowie, The Temptations to The Beatles, and Elvis to The Dixie Humming Birds. He is a consummate composer who has written piano music that assertively flirts with Eric Satie, experimental pieces using field recordings like ‘Where Are The Newspaper Taxis?’ which features a rusty swinging gate, and absurdly beautiful operatic works such as ‘Where Is My Blue Snorkel?’ for which the libretto is in German. I have been constantly surprised and delighted by this man’s astounding creativity and humour for nearly forty years.

We have been on the road together in bands with Peter Dasent including Les Hots, The Living Hamsters, Spats, The Crocodiles, and Bend (thankfully what goes on the road stays on the road), and are currently completing a three album set of Bend recordings, some 25 years in the making. Tony is also involved playing bass and singing with me, Andy Gladstone and Nicole Taylor, in our fabulous local groove unit No Engine. Oh did I forget to mention we will be playing 20 original songs at the Cabana on Dec 20th?

After a year struggling with a small gallery/shop in their garage at Ballquidder Rd, the Culys have moved their fabulous ‘Homebase’ brand to a pop-up shop in Ponsonby Rd - which word has it, is “going off!”

The demographic of groovy homemakers who get that Leanne’s eclectic kiwi bach aesthetic can work in any environment - from up-tight minimalist to cluttered kitsch, must be bigger in Auckland simply because there are more people, but I suspect the neighbourhood of funky shops she is nestled in, Wunderkammer, Real Time, Flotsam & Jetsam, Minnie Cooper etc probably helps.

It is good to see their creative hotpot starting to earn them a living. All I hope is that they manage to work the Auckland retail scene to their advantage and keep living and designing in ‘the Bay’.

Homebase’s success might enable Brian to get back to his stunning ‘art-photography’ practice and kick some more arse, not to mention collaborate with me to make some beautiful audiovisual works for my music. Fingers crossed.

martin poppelwell (Somebody had too much to think!)

Martin is frankly a creative genius (and that is not a term I ever bandy about) so it is always interesting to see how he will take the exquisite black line he has been blessed with and convolute or simplify it into some fresh version of his endlessly obfuscated cartoon.

The question is, will he follow the line into some dangerously brave new world where there is no ladder to get into the tree, no grid system keeping the planets in orbit, and the internal nebular structure remains unexpreessed? Or will he just keep hatching and patching his way to the top, making minor adjustments to the structure of the map?

Rumour has it that he is becoming so successful that he plans to take a year off to think! ..... He is going to perfect the tree!

Good luck with that Martin.

A year is a long time in show biz and as you know it is possible to have too much to think.

fane flaws (Please give me what I want) My personal creative endeavors are very complicated right now. You might describe them as id-like - a seething cauldron of chaotic excitations. I am trying to get the lethargic NZ publishing industry interested in some beautiful, funny, interactive children’s books, which are so obviously the future (ask any kid with an I-pad) - yet this would appear to be a creative exercise akin to impersonating a plate of chopped liver.

I have been deconstructing old kitchen tables to make some ‘Formicons’ for Compass Points - a show at Bill Millbank’s Wanganui gallery where I am helping to represent East. Yes East - that is here - the East Coast! A weighty honour to shoulder.

My main focus is completing an album of Sam Hunt poems I set to music and began recording in 1987 ... Ok so I am tragically slow. Very good things sometimes take a little time. The Oxford dictionary was 25 years late, mate.

Mark my words - by the time Dan Jello, Sir Wilfred Effingham, S.F. Zorro, Dr Strangeglove and I - aka BEND have finished recording the five new songs in November - there will be a masterpiece in the can or my name’s not Avant Vu. Then it’s onto the videos....now where is Culy’s number...?

ANNABEL SINCLAIRTHOMPSON (There’s a good time coming) The indomitable Annabel who runs the gorgeous ‘works on paper’ gallery Paperworks is having a creative flush

candidates x, y & Z (Aisles of plastic junk from China – every fuckwit’s a designer) On a closing negative, I can’t fail to mention the sad state of affairs regarding the billboards for the local body election.

Minus a few commendable exceptions, we have been assaulted by such a mind bogglingly disturbing kludge of unkerned type, billious colourways and tragic photography, that I have had to erase the first month of spring from my fragmented hard drive.

The downside of the wonderful ubiquitous, computer techknowledgie that now rules the world of graphic design, is that anyone with a lap-top can do their own poster. Why hire a designer when with a few lessons on Indesign and Photoshop, or worse still CorrelDraw you can do it yourself and save the money? Well listen up people - in my day where we did everything by hand - it took years of study to become a designer. And guess what? It still does!

Design is not all about the ‘app’ that just speeds up the process. The

development of the design aesthetic and acquiring the myriad skills necessary to become even basically competent, still takes years. For all of you sad guys who thought it was just fine to have your badly lit mugs plastered all over town in a tsunami of amateur environmental pollution, think again. Just because everyone else’s billboard looks like shit, doesn’t give you a license to join in the epidemic. Next time - get a budget and hire a pro’ - please. (Incidently, I have several Best Design Awards, am on The Massey University Design Wall Of Fame, and cost only $200 per hour) There are a plethora of wonderful local creatives I could include on these pages, cementing my already safe position on the ‘Roster of Nepotism and Disgrace’, and no doubt earning myself maximum brownnose points towards the coveted ‘Prince Of Persiflage Awards’, but sadly the overated word count is up and I do have a bunch of my gorgeous gouaches to squash in, so I will say farewell until next time and remember - Always Call Your Mother.

www.faneflaws.com

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

with a xmas show titled 1, 2, 3. In a cunning move to provide affordable original art for the xmas market and get the lazy local artists to get off the sunlounger to make something that fans on a budget can lash out on, she has asked us all to make whatever we like in three sizes of work...

1 (100x100mm), 2 (200x200mm) and 3 (300x300mm).

These will be sold for $100, $200 and $300 respectively. Now that’s what I call creative thinking. I personally have eschewed the smallest format, pleading blindness and incompetence and offering a recent gardening accident involving a five sided pole cactus and my bottom as a lame excuse and have opted for the 2’s and 3’s.

The more cynical minded element might suggest that I am a shameless self-promoter and have only mentioned this event, because I have illustrated this article with little paintings which will be part of this show. That would be churlish and unfair. This is a winwin situation and I am well known as a selfless philanthropist and as legendarily hopeless at marketing myself.

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brendan webb

High Water Mark

Bee in the know ~ nov/ dec 2013

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The water in the great dam looked like black glass in the moonlight as the sentry stood on the parapet above, gazing toward the flickering fires of Waiparus, a hamlet to the east. A centurion loomed up out of the darkness and joined him on the walkway above the dam’s huge timber wall.

“Anything moving out there?” he murmured to his companion. The other sentry shook his head.

“I’m more worried about things moving here,” he replied.

“What do you mean?” asked the other man.

“This place gives me the creeps. It doesn’t feel safe. I swear I felt it sway a few minutes ago,” said the first sentry.

“Ah, it’s just your imagination,” said his colleague. “This dam is built like a brick bathhouse.”

The first sentry was silent. He had felt uncomfortable ever since he was assigned to guard duty on the dam. He knew many of the peasants blamed it for turning the region’s rivers and streams into mosquito-breeding ribbons of green slime. But it wasn’t pike-wielding peasants he feared. He had heard an augury had tried to get a sign of approval for the dam from the Roman god of water and earthquakes, the mighty Neptune, by the traditional Roman method of feeding sacred chickens to see if they spilled any food in their haste to eat. If they did, said the augury, it was a good omen.

Unfortunately two of the chickens had choked to death, one had been snatched by a hawk and three had been flattened by a chariot in the resulting panic.

The sentry shivered. Neptune’s violent rage was legendary. One shake of his trident could trigger an earthquake that would send a massive wall of water from the dam down the valley, wiping out Waiparus. Neptune had once destroyed the hilltop settlement of Napierion, far to the north, after its citizens had captured some of his beloved dolphins and made them perform tricks.

A loud creak from one of the timber beams holding back the huge body of water made the sentry jump so sharply that he let go of his spear. He watched it bounce off the dam’s massive wall as it cartwheeled into the valley floor far below, “That’ll cost you a week’s wages,” smirked his companion.

It was market day in the small village

Lawrencus grimaced. He recalled his boyhood years when the Pukus River was a favourite swimming spot and a good source of trout.

He’d almost forgotten what trout looked like. of Havers. The villagers wandered among stalls selling olive oil, stuffed artichokes, pesto and bread. They parted as a tall figure came striding along the dusty path. Bright sunlight reflected off the copper breastplate and helmet of Lawrencus Yulus, provincial governor of Heretaungus.

Lawrencus ignored the peasants as he glanced at the goods on display.

He had almost walked past one stall when he suddenly caught sight of a basket of eels. They were milky white and to his astonishment, had small growths on their undersides and heads like balloons at each end.

“What in Great Jupiter’s name are these unearthly creatures?” he asked the cringing merchant.

“A very rare form of eel your worship,” stammered the man. “They come from the Pukus River behind these hills. I caught them myself this morning.”

Lawrencus gritted his teeth and glared at the man.

“Are you mad?” he roared. “Nobody in their right mind would eat anything from that cesspool.”

The merchant swallowed nervously.

“I admit they’re not big sellers,” he said, “but they’re the only things that can survive in the green slime, unless you fancy a nice juicy toad. They go well with pickled olives and a rough red from that black barn over there.”

Lawrencus grimaced. He recalled his boyhood years when the Pukus River was a favourite swimming spot and a good source of trout. He’d almost forgotten what trout looked like. The water courses which once traced their route to the Bay of Hawks like great arteries were now just dusty depressions on the landscape, replaced by a grid of canals fed from the great dam in the hills to the west.

That cursed dam had changed everything.

He walked a few more yards and watched as a plump merchant argued with a customer over the cost of a stone jug of water. The customer was complaining that the price had risen 60 percent in the past week.

“Don’t blame me mate,” growled the merchant. “The dam owners want every drop for the bloody cows.”

“What about a jug of milk then?” said the angry customer. “After all, we’ve got more cows than people these days in Heretaungus.”

“You’re joking,” snorted the seller.

“That’s twice the price of water. Gold’s cheaper.”

Lawrencus turned away. He had crushed all opponents on the plain of Heretuscany, but now the dam had become the real ruler of the province, transforming its landscape and controlling its destiny. He had even sacrificed a few bulls to Neptune in the forlorn hope he would shake things up, preferably the dam’s foundations, but the dam remained intact.

Feeling depressed, he stopped at the black barn to buy a jug of wine. Perhaps a quiet dinner would improve his mood.

But the food stalls were now empty, their customers heading home. Clutching his jug, he was walking back toward his chariot when a voice called out to him. It was the fish seller.

“Cheer up Lawrencus,” the man said cheerily. “I’ve kept this nice fat eel just for you. Look, it’s even got a smile on both of its faces.”

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