From candidate forums, to Michael Fowler on ‘Fantasyland’, to wheelie bin discount, to NCC water infrastructure spend, to HBRC’s State of the Environment report, to Cultural Competency workshops, to $600 million made official for Expressway, here are some notable announcements you might have missed.
More candidate forums
CHB Council is partnering with Waipukurau Rotary Club, Business and Professional Women Central Hawke’s Bay, and Central FM to host a conversation with the mayoral candidates, alongside an opportunity to meet and hear from the 18 Councillor candidates.
Each of the 18 Councillor candidates will do a quick introduction to the audience, before the conversation with the two mayoral candidates begins.
Newsroom Pro Managing Editor Jonathan Milne will facilitate the event.
Waipukurau’s Civic Theatre, 26 August
Doors open 5.00pm for Councillor candidate speed-dating
Councillor candidate pitches from 6.30pm
Mayoral candidates in conversation with Jonathan Milne from 7.05pm to 8pm
The event will be livestreamed from the Council’s Facebook page from 6.30pm
And in the coming week, the candidates for Hastings mayor will have their second forum, this one sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
Thursday, 28 August, 5pm at Hastings Boys High School.
And over in Napier, Forest & Bird will be grilling Napier constituency candidates for the Regional Council.
That forum is 7:30p at Community Hall Church, 1 York Avenue, Tamatea.
History talk by Michael Fowler
“Fantasyland ‒ Hastings Own Disneyland”
During the Second World War, ‘Fun Sessions’, which were variety entertainment shows, were held in the Hastings Municipal Theatre as fundraisers and to keep morale going.
After the war’s end, Harry Poppelwell just thought Hastings went flat. Hastings – according to Poppelwell in 1950 – was suffering from “glorious inactivity.”
Greater Hastings, a promotional organisation was established in 1950, and its first creation was the Blossom Festival, and then the Highland Games – and then Harry turned his attention to creating an attraction in Windsor Park, which of course became Fantasyland.
Fantasyland (where Splash Planet is now) holds many memories for people, so take a trip of nostalgia on the train, as Michael Fowler rides through the history of this once much-loved theme park.
Date: 3 September 2025, 2-3pm
Place: Keirunga Gardens Homestead
Modest charge. Book at https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2025/fantasyland-hastings-own-disneyland/havelock-north
Napier Council announcements
First, on the ‘what you can do personally’ level … Compost and recycling-savvy residents who cut down their wheelie bin usage could see their rates bill cut down too.
The Less Waste Incentive is open to all Napier property owners who receive the Council wheelie bin service. It allows a rates discount to households that put their bin out for collection 26 times or fewer each year.
The bin’s RFID tag records how many times a bin is put out between 1 June and 31 May every year. Households that record 26 times or fewer each year will receive a 25% discount off the refuse collection portion of their rates bill. The discount will be applied for the following year’s rates bill, from 1 July.
Napier residents must sign up for the next financial year by 30 September at napier.govt.nz using the keyword search #lesswasteincentive.
Then there’s the big bucks for water infrastructure!
NCC announced it has delivered $22.43 million in upgrades to the city’s water infrastructure in the year ending June 2025.
Works include $5.3 million on pipe renewals and extensions to the water supply network; $11.1 million of wastewater pipeline repairs and extensions, upgrades to four pump stations and new storage cells at the wastewater treatment plant; and $6.1 million improving stormwater capacity and installing electronic stormwater gates.
Looking ahead, Council has budgeted $27.6 million for 2025/26, prioritising 50 water infrastructure projects to strengthen Napier’s water networks. There is $701 million worth of capital water works planned through to 2034.
HBRC’s State of the Environment Report released
The Regional Council has released its 2021 – 2024 State of the Environment (SOE) Report, a three-yearly check on the health of the region’s environment.
The SOE report is part of a long-term monitoring framework that tracks changes across Hawke’s Bay’s air, land, and water. It breaks down data down by catchment area, and shows where things are improving, where they’re not, and where action is most needed. The report highlights the impact of human activity and the need for coordinated responses across the region.
Based on data collected before and after Cyclone Gabrielle, the report highlights several major environmental challenges. These include declining wetland health, water quality, and biodiversity. It also outlines areas of progress, such as maintaining improved air quality, riparian planting, and targeted pest control. Post-cyclone, networks have been rebuilt with resilience in mind, and many of the benefits from these efforts are expected to become more visible in the years ahead.
To read the full State of the Environment 2021 – 2024 report, click here.
Cultural competency
Nga Toi Creative Hawkes Bay is sponsoring a ‘cultural competency’ four-part workshop course to be led by led by Heather Te Au-Skipworth.
The series is designed to guide you through meaningful engagement with Māori culture, values, and creative practices. Whether you’re an individual, part of a business, government agency, or creative organisation, these sessions will provide the tools and confidence to connect more authentically with Māori creatives and communities.
The programme begins on 25 August and continues into early October. More details here.
Nga Toi is offering 50% discount for creatives, not-for-profits and community groups – they need to apply directly through [email protected]
$600 million for Expressway official
Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board’s endorsement of the investment case for the Hawke’s Bay Expressway, with construction starting in November.
The Board approved more than $600m to four-lane the most congested part of the Expressway. The overall project includes:
· 7km of four-laning between Links Road/Pākōwhai Road and Taradale Road.
· a duplicate two-lane overpass at Meeanee Road.
· a duplicate two-lane overpass at Kennedy Road.
· a duplicate two-lane bridge over Tutaekuri River.
· a four-lane grade separated interchange at Links Road/Pākōwhai Road.
Contracts to deliver the road and bridge packages of work for the Hawke’s Bay Expressway project will be confirmed through a procurement panel that was established late last year. This process will commence at the end of August, with contracts awarded by October.
Four-laning is expected to start in November 2025 and be completed in early 2028. Design work for the grade separated interchange at Links Road/Pākōwhai Road will take place next year, with construction expected to begin in late 2027 and be completed in late 2029.
