Ruataniwha Water Storage Project heads to next stage

Hawke's Bay Regional Council has voted to move the Ruataniwha Water Storage Project ahead to the next stage.

The council will apply for a resource consent to the Environment Protection Agency to test and validate the environmental effects of the project.

The council instructed its chief executive Andrew Newman to report back on how the project will be handled by the councils investment company, which is charged with the job of leading the project through its next phases.

Mr Newman's report will go some way to reassure the pubic that the council is not handing over the project to the investment company without any accountability to ratepayers.