Government confirms $20m flood protection
The National-led coalition Government says it will honour the previous government’s commitment of $20 million for Westport’s flood protection.
The former government granted $22.9m last year for flood protection, including a series of walls to ring-fence the town.
Nearly half of Westport’s 4500-odd residents had to evacuate their homes during flooding in July 2021, an event that left almost 500 properties swamped. Another heavy rain event in February 2022 damaged roads, bridges, Westport’s water supply, and 70 farms.
Current Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced yesterday the remaining $20m would be made available to complete the project. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million in recent years to support emergency preparedness. Now, following detailed work on the design of the flood protection, the Government has confirmed an additional $20m to complete the project,” he said.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine said it was “the same money” that was previously announced but said it was good news because it had been unknown whether the Government’s austerity measures would put the funding at risk. However, he said a stormwater upgrade, which was an essential and life-saving part of the plan, was still unfunded.
Cleine had previously appealed to the Government to pay $12m for stormwater, warning that if the system was not upgraded the surrounding stopbanks could turn the town into a potentially life-threatening bathtub.
He said he was pleased Browne’s letter confirming the $20m funding included an acknowledgement that the Buller District Council had started work on scoping a stormwater design and said that work would help with “identifying funding options”.
Cleine said: “That’s quite different from a ‘no there will be no money’”.
Brown said $2m of the funding would go towards helping residents outside the stop banks to raise the level of their homes.
“This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community,” he said.