Councillor Todd Chote - Central Hawkes Bay District Council

05/06/2026

Have your say on how we shape local government for Central Hawke's Bay.

22/05/2026

Since the McCain closure announcement and Wattie’s decision to remove its frozen production line, we’ve been working with growers and industry leaders to understand the challenges facing the sector.

The message is clear: energy affordability and reliability, water security and national policy settings all affect whether growers, manufacturers and exporters can keep investing and employing people here.

These are not issues Hastings can solve alone, but they matter deeply to us. Good local jobs mean wages spent in local shops, apprenticeships for young people, contracts for local firms, and give people the confidence to build their future here.

So last week, CHB Mayor Will Foley and I took Hawke’s Bay’s concerns directly to Parliament, calling for practical action to support growers, food processing, local jobs and regional resilience.

We called for:
- growers and councils to have a voice in the parliamentary process now underway
- support for an independent, grower-led feasibility study into future large-scale vegetable processing capability in Hawke’s Bay
- greater certainty in the national settings that affect investment decisions for growers and processors
- urgent attention to sustainable, affordable energy options, particularly the high-heat energy needed by food processors.

Food production and processing in Hawke’s Bay is too important to be treated as just a regional issue.

This is about jobs, investment and protecting New Zealand’s food production future.

More information linked to in the comments 👇

22/05/2026

Local government reform.

I know there will be lots of you wondering what is happening in this space. Once the announcement was made, it generated a lot of questions from the sector to government. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get any clarity from government on exactly what is in or out. Make no mistake though, the signals from government seem strong, that status quo and doing nothing is not an option if we want to influence what a new look for local government in Hawke's Bay looks like. It seems likely, that we will need to propose an amalgamated entity (by Aug 9th), to have any chance of acceptance.

What will be important though is how do we retain CHB identity, focus, priority and voice across a multiple district/ regional and larger entity.

There is no legislation passed that allows the government to make any changes right now but they will look to enact that in 2027 and be ready for new council entities that submit proposals for 2028 start. Those that don't submit will have the process done for them by Wellington and lose the ability to influence their outcome.

The opposition parties have been largely silent on this matter so far and haven't indicated anything to say this will be reversed so we will need to assume at this stage, a change this November wouldn't drastically alter this process.

The council will look to seek as much feedback as it can during the time we have before proposals due August 9th. You might like us to form a HB unitary authority, merge with just one another council or don't submit anything and stay status quo, risking the government doing our plan for us. Things to consider could be things like:
What does success looks like?
key measures to achieve in new entity.
Governance structure to ensure meaningful representation.
The need or not to carry on with legislated processes in the short term that cost time and money.

This is hugely significant for our district and region. How would you best like to hear from us and provide feedback? Submissions, hall meetings, online survey or something else?

14/05/2026

In your opinion who would you like chb to work with?

14/05/2026