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The Hawke's Bay Regional Council has been challenged about its strategy for consulting with Maori on the controversial Ruataniwha dam scheme.
On the first day of five weeks of hearings, the board of inquiry into whether the $265 million central Hawkes Bay water storage scheme should go ahead, the lawyer for Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Jamie Fergusson, quizzed council strategic development manager Helen Codlin about the consultation.
Under the Resource Management Act the council was required to consult local iwi.
It chose to talk to groups in the immediate area of the dam rather than with Ngati Kahungunu as an official entity.
Ms Codlin says the council considered that was a better level to engage and that it met the required standards.
Ngati Kahungunu Inc is concerned the dam and irrigation scheme will degrade water quality in the Tukituki River catchment.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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