Failure to action particular recommendations from annual dam safety reviews and to clear debris from local waterway

Excerpt from report summary

The complainant represents people in Havelock North who were affected by the flooding event caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. The complainant has raised concerns that the Hastings District Council (the District Council) failed to properly maintain the Mangarau and Herehere dams and the Mangarau stream, from about 2004 to 2023. The complainant believes this contributed to the flooding and erosion across the region caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. The complainant has also alleged that the District Council misrepresented the situation in the local newspaper with two specific statements.

Based on the information before me, I have formed the opinion that the District Council’s omissions to maintain the Mangarau and Herehere dams and the Mangarau stream were unreasonable and one of its statements in the local newspaper about the waterway being cleared was wrong. I consider that the District Council’s other statement about the complainant’s comment in the newspaper, was its honest opinion and therefore not unreasonable. 

I recommend that the District Council publicly correct the wrong statement.