In the last couple of months of 2024, BayBuzz put the call out to you, our informed and imaginative readership, asking for your big ideas for Hawke’s Bay in 2025 and beyond.

Here’s what you came up with, as published in January/February BayBuzz magazine.

Popular opinion
Amalgamation. The most repeated suggestion for a regional big idea was the merging of the councils. Curbing duplication, streamlining services, common sense … the reasons were many.

But then again, those reasons were all there in 2014-15 when we last went through the debate. The population rejected it then, but would we get a different result if we gave it another nudge now? What would it take to move the needle in Napier from the 84% No vote in 2015? Would Hastings still marginally vote Yes as they did then? And Wairoa – given their challenges and opportunities – would they be any keener on linking arms with their southern neighbours?

Marie
Marie Taylor from Plant Hawke’s Bay says the areas of the region’s natural landscapes which remain in indigenous vegetation are at threat from deer and goats. She calls for enduring solutions to protect the remaining habitats, and this doesn’t mean the Predator Free 2050 programme. 

“My big idea is to encourage landowners to work together in groups to deer fence their boundaries and keep deer and goats out of their farms. That way, the deer fencing could go on ridgelines and around catchments so that tricky sites to fence like streams, are minimised. And when farmers – and catchment groups – know that all the deer are removed, they are in a much better position to invest in repairing landscapes with trees.

So instead of fencing smaller areas, and paying a high cost per hectare for protection, the money could instead have a much wider impact across a larger landscape.” 

David
David Stoney says it’s time we fixed “Napier’s cultural heritage once and for all.” He says the mistake that is MTG Hawke’s Bay could be fixed using the $14 million earmarked to upgrade the library, to instead relocate the museum to a purpose-built building next to the Faraday Centre. He envisages council purchasing the land where the Army depot is, to build a multi-story museum building with parking underneath. The art gallery and library would remain at MTG Hawke’s Bay, meaning more of the regional collection could be on display.

Gary 
Here’s one from lessons learned in Cyclone Gabrielle. Painting house numbers on roofs, ideally bold enough to be visible from the ground and the air. Gary Hinson reckons this is the solution to the problems faced by emergency responders in February 2023. 

“Whether on the ground or in the air, the emergency services can waste time and risk their own lives simply hunting for the right place. Acacia Avenue is probably on the map, but which one is 27a? A photograph taken from the road in Google Street View on a lovely sunny day may bear little resemblance to the situation during and following a major storm – just think of the devastation caused to Esk Valley for instance.” 

Sure, only some people would do this, but even a handful of houses with roof numbers in each neighbourhood would help during a crisis. Useful too, Gary suggests, in other emergency situations – “fires, domestic disturbances, gun crimes, even terrorist attacks – basically any time someone needs to find a specific property in an unfamiliar area, quickly.” 

Rex
At the very least, could the councils come together more meaningfully on climate? Former HBRC Chairman Rex Graham’s one big idea is to “Develop a strategic plan that generates action to mitigate the imminent effects of climate change on our community”.

It needs a single focus, he says, “To protect our environment, our economy and our social fabric in the face of climate change. This could be driven by a special group populated by elected nominees from our five councils ( perhaps two from each) supported by regional parties of interest. But somehow we need to stay focused on the issue which is real and impending…. and keep parochial and petty politics out of the discussion.”

Anthony
Fresh off a successful pop-up as part of the Fringe in the ‘Stings festival in 2024, Anthony van Duuren tells us it’s time for a permanent location for a medical cannabis lounge. This harm reduction project is already on the way, currently in the process of gaining the required approvals to set up in Karamu Road, in the former Spaceship premises.

If it does get the green light, Anthony says, “Dali Susanto’s artwork will be back on display in the front windows and the venue will continue to offer a safe space for the Fringe community to gather.”

Russell
Russell Maher says we could be looking harder at rail as an idea and a solution. Bolstering rail freight would remove trucks from the roads and a commuter rail system between Waipukurau and Bayview, with car parking at each end of the line, would lessen the number of cars on the roads. Perhaps we wouldn’t need double lanes on the expressway after all! 

Richard
Tourism Big Ideas from Richard Brown include bringing in an international hotel chain such as Accor, promoting Central Hawke’s Bay and the more remote beaches, and pushing the luxury lodges of Hawke’s Bay. Richard reckons we could also do more to promote the region as a sporting destination, with the Sports Park, cycle trails, golf courses, mountain biking and sea fishing as big drawcards. 

Karl 
We could be promoting the establishment of “high-tech, futurist development industries, laboratories etc here in Hawke’s Bay,” suggests Karl Matthys. Cheaper land out toward the airport could be the place for this development. 

Chris 
Chris Henry is approaching retirement with a focused big idea – the promotion of Western Himalayan Alder as a tree to stabilise eroded land, and to nursery native trees through to permanent forest. 

There are 10,000 seedlings coming through Plant Hawke’s Bay’s nursery to make a decent start on this, as an alternative to planting pines to address soil loss and erosion. Western Himalayan Alder is a long-living tree growing to 30 metres tall, Chris says. It’s categorised as a ‘hardwood’ under the ETS and is “a nitrogen fixing tree, tolerant of both wet and dry soils of poor fertility and very wind-hardy.” 

The Himalayan Alder project is in its infancy, but you can learn more about it at www.alders.co.nz. Maybe you can help – the project team is seeking trial sites on farmland. 

Vanessa
Vanessa Moon’s big, big idea for Hawke’s Bay is an ambitious Festival for Life on Earth. Featuring many different art practices and modalities, such a festival would include “theatre, street theatre, theatre sports, dance, music, storytelling, comedy/stand up, poetry (spoken word, slam), mime, puppetry, short film/video, photography, fashion design, the visual arts, co-operative games and other forms of “games/play,” and take place right across the region.

As part of the Festival, Vanessa would love to see a Hawke’s Bay take on the Climate Change Theatre Action. This international initiative “commissions 50 playwrights from around the world every two years, to write 50 short plays, which are made available free to anyone who wishes to make use of them during a CCTA Festival period.”

What a way to bring climate action to the fore, for our art-loving public!

Margaret
Citizens assemblies are gaining traction, with a water planning example having worked well in Auckland. Margaret offers this as her big idea.

“I would like to see a serious exploration of ctizens assemblies as a way to develop a vision for each area, e.g., Napier, Hastings, CHB, Wairoa. A proper sampling of the population of each area is needed, so that voices not usually heard are included. I understand no more than 100 people works well. They meet over several weeks and are sometimes paid for their time or travel.”

Robyn
Robyn Napier reckons the region is becoming a sea of roofs, and the impact on the environment needs to be mitigated, so the idea is: ‘Hawke’s Bay – seen to be green.’ “Organic, GMO free and actively mitigating the loss of areas for trees by requiring every new build to contribute to development of native tree planting in designated pockets.” 

Another from Robyn Napier – get the Bay looking a “little easier on the eye” – with a council-led volunteer army walking the edges of the highways and other high-litter areas. “Perhaps suited to active retired people, walking groups, or unemployed who share a concern for our clean green image rapidly disappearing. The council could provide fluoro vests, pick-up tools, and bags or something suitable for collection.”

And these recurring dreams …

“Make the airport international!” (Bugger the biosecurity risk to the primary industries, huh…)

“A wave beach on Marine Parade – make Napier the Surfers’ Paradise of Aotearoa!”

“Bring back the tram line between Ahuriri and the Napier CBD – it was there before the 1931 earthquake – and while you’re at it, let’s see light rail between Napier, Hastings and Havelock.”

“It’s gotta be time for a gondola up Te Mata Peak. High time in fact.”

“Real Housewives of Havelock North … Imagine the ratings!”