Clarity sought on river scheme

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A MEETING for the Waiho River rating district at Franz Josef should be convened before the end of the current term of the West Coast Regional Council, a councillor says.

Council chief executive Heather Mabin was in Wellington on Friday last week to update the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on its infrastructure project at Franz Josef, among others.

She told the council that clarity would be sought on the status of the remaining half of the original $24 million ‘‘shovelready’’ package which was granted for a protection scheme on both sides of the Waiho River.

At present, the council has only been authorised to start half of the scheme.

That includes stopbank extensions on the Franz Josef township side as well as rockwall improvements above and below the Waiho River bridge on State Highway 6.

The Waiho Flat farming area on the south side remains in limbo over new protection and whether the Government will abandon the area by letting the stopbanks on that side of the river go and compensate landowners.

Cr Stuart Challenger said after the meeting that the council needed to be active on the issue and it should have facilitated a rating district meeting some time ago.

‘‘My belief is we have to keep on protecting the south side,’’ he said.

However, Richard Molloy, a farmer of 50 years in the area, said the it had been a too long wait for the entire Franz Josef community, including Waiho Flat.

‘‘They need to spend that $24 million and then say, ‘right what’s next?’. It’s not a waste of money because it’s saving a community and that farming [contribution] is a very large part of that com

West Coast regional councillor Stuart Challenger

munity,’’ Mr Molloy said.

The council still had a responsibility to look after them in the meantime, he said.

‘‘They’re still not living up to their obligations to maintain the [south side] stopbanks — they say there is no money.’’

The northern and southern rating districts were merged into a new district in line with council proposing a total scheme in 2019 for both sides of the Waiho.

But the new group had not yet met, Mr Molloy said.

Cr Challenger said the council had a leadership responsibility to stage a meeting with its overarching responsibility to maintain the existing rating district flood protection assets for Waiho Flat.

‘‘We need to convene one of those meetings — it should be done before the end of this triennium . . . We’ve got to get in there.’’

However, the council had been constrained recently around convening rating districts due to its engineering staff halving to two.

Any outcome from the Wellington meeting could clarify the situation for both sides of the river, Cr Challenger said.

‘‘My belief is we can’t just leave the south side there. They’ve got assets there — we’ve got to protect those assets.

‘‘Realistically we really need to extend the stopbanks towards the coast but it’s a matter of making sure the benefiting parties pay for it.’’

The protocol then was any new assets would be assumed by the rating district for ongoing maintenance, he said.

Mr Molloy said the $24 million scheme was originally set up to provide immediate ‘‘breathing space’’ until other longer term decisions might be made about the whole area.

‘‘They’ve gone off on a tangent — now they’re looking at long term viability. It was recognised that it was a stop gap — now they’ve gone away from that. They’ve certainly gone back on their work.’’

A recent meeting with council staff and its new infrastructure manager had been useful in providing historical context and relating the frustration of no decision, he said.

‘‘I think we got a fair hearing . . . I don’t want particularly to be butting my head against a brick wall. I feel we’re entitled to a fair hearing.’’

❛ My belief is we have to keep on protecting the south side

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