Land categorisations provide clarity for communities across Hawke’s Bay

As leaders within Hawke’s Bay, we are pleased with today’s announcement of land categorisations which provides further and much-needed clarity for the communities across the region who were severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

“While the provisional land categorisations are just the start of the process for some of our most impacted areas, today’s announcement will enable those in Category 1 areas to move on with their recovery with confidence, and to move forward with their lives.

For our Category 2 and Category 3 areas, there is still a significant amount of work to be done. The reality is that Categories 2 and 3 cover a wide spectrum of scenarios and circumstances, including properties that weren’t damaged because of the cyclone, and we want to work closely with our impacted residents to ensure we understand the valuable local knowledge that exists within our communities.

All of this important mahi will only be able to progress with strong Government support and, although the funding confirmed through Budget 2023 is a step in the right direction, as we’ve stated before, this is significantly less than we need as a region if we’re going to build greater resilience into our region’s flood protection schemes over the many years ahead.

Building back safer, stronger and smarter is going to require investment far greater than anything the region has seen before and together, we look forward to working with central Government and the Cyclone Recovery Taskforce as we continue our transition toward meaningful, long-term recovery for the people of Hawke’s Bay.

ENDS

1 June 2023

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