What’s the most pressing issue for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to tackle? Flood damage? Climate change? Storm resilience? A combination of the three?
If you count submissions to the council’s 2023-2024 annual plan, there’s actually
only one issue in town or country that matters, and that is a lack of horse riding trails.
About 70 per cent of the 87 submissions focused on that subject, leaving a councillor disappointed other groups aren’t working the council systems to have their voices heard in the same way.
In a meeting agenda written by Sarah Bell, team leader of strategy and performance, and Mandy Sharpe, senior strategy and corporate planner, they pointed out that the theme of the submissions indicated the horse-riding community was “particularly active in providing feedback en masse”.
The Hawke’s Bay Horse Trails Access Advocacy Group and the New Zealand Equestrian Advocacy Network were among the organisations that submitted.
Kate Hinton said she started the Hawke’s Bay Horse Trails Access Advocacy Group because she believed the number of places where people could safely ride horses had drastically decreased since her childhood, limiting riders to arenas or sharing the roads with inconsiderate drivers.
She said the equestrian community took inspiration from how other organised groups like cyclists had been able to lobby local government for their interests.
“We see this as a huge opportunity for Hawke’s Bay, because of our weather and our incredible landscape, to become a premier horse riding region and encourage equi-tourism.”
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She saw Cyclone Gabrielle as an opportunity rather than an obstacle to getting the voice of the equestrian community heard through submissions.
“We can’t take away from the fact that Cyclone Gabrielle was an absolute tragedy to Hawke’s Bay.
“However when you look at an area that is in the middle of a lot of change that is perfect timing to get in to create a whole new level of opportunity,” she said.
She was very proud of the submission turnout and believed it only represented a small fraction of the local equestrian community who were calling for these changes.
According to Hinton, the equestrian community were willing to put in the work for maintenance on the existing tracks, as well as improvements through a partnership with the Regional Council.
“You get the treats when you do the mahi, so we are very understanding that without our elbow grease, nothing will get off the ground.”
Hinton said other benefits to investment in equestrian infrastructure were the relatively low cost of horse trails compared with cycle trails or footpaths and the opportunity to get more women of all ages into a sport.
The majority of horse riders were women, she said.
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Councillor Jerf van Beek said credit had to go to the equestrian community for organising to ensure their voice was heard, but he was “disappointed” that more community groups had not organised in the same way.
“It is clear not everybody has done that, but they should have. One group has used their chance the best to make their voices heard,” van Beek said.
He said Cyclone Gabrielle could have been a factor in many people not having time to focus on making submissions, but he also admitted that there could be improvements in how the Regional Council communicates the importance of submitting.
“[The focus on horse trails] could be a sign we have not communicated well enough the opportunity the community has to be heard and make a change,” he said.
In response to the submissions, Bell and Sharpe promised a future review but also highlighted that existing trails were being maintained.
“The Annual Plan includes a budget for ongoing maintenance for the existing horse-riding trails, and the priority will be achieving current levels of service,” Bell and Sharpe wrote.
“The ongoing development of horse riding trails will be reviewed in the next Long Term Plan 2024-2027 as part of the level of service review.”
Hinton said it wasn’t soon enough and that the more changes equestrians could get in the short term, the better.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz