Looking at the likelihood and degree of change over time

It’s likely coastal erosion and inundation (flooding from the sea) will impact upon community assets like roads, pipes, and parks within the next 100 years. Some will become too vulnerable to make repairs a cost-effective option. Private property will also be impacted.

The technical report will detail where and when coastal erosion and inundation may happen and the amount of change over three timeframes: 30, 50 and 100 years:

• 30 years for long-term council asset planning,

50 years is the expected lifetime of a building for consent applications, and 100 years minimum is how far out government requires councils to plan for climate change.

For each timeframe, the report will look at two or three sea-level rise scenarios. Each reflects degrees of certainty, as in it is:

• ‘likely to occur’,

• ‘will probably occur’, and

• ‘unlikely but possible it will occur’.