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South Westland River Threat Up For Discussion
Future options for the largest river-based protection scheme on the West Coast will be canvassed at Hari Hari this week.
It will include an update on the Before the Deluge business case, by the regional and unitary councils sector group Te Uri Kihaka, at the annual meeting of the Wanganui Rating District at Hari Hari on Thursday.
The West Coast Regional Council special rating district at Hari Hari is the largest single network of stopbanks and groins in the region.
Many kilometres of protection have been developed on both sides of the Wanganui River over the past 50 years and are maintained by council on behalf of what is largely a farming district -- although the small settlement of Hari Hari also benefits.
Rating district spokesman Jon Sullivan said he has been encouraged by the increasingly cohesive approach by the regional council to the rating district's business.
This had seen a good level of responsive stopbank maintenance and fix-ups following natural events largely attributable to the new engineer for the area, he said.
In 2022-23 as council went through upheaval at every level, a series of flood bank breaches culminated in the river breaking through into northern bank farms in April last year.
But ratepayers at last year's annual meeting were unhappy at the time it often took for council to respond to new threats from the river.
Mr Sullivan said a good working relationship had steadily built up with new council engineer for the area, Kent Jacobsen since then.
Mr Sullivan said the new engineer was a credit to his organisation and it had resulted in some "sterling work" in a practical approach to nip in the bud any emerging protection issues, and often under budget.
The approach throughout had been "thorough and courteous".
"He's been bloody good."
However Mr Sullivan said the special rating district still needed greater transparency from council around how their money was being spent.
According to the agenda in the 2022-23 year maintenance charged to the rating district account was $227,826.
Capital works in the same period including administration, insurance and council staff time amounted to $35,389.
Council is recommending a total rates strike of $236,910 for 2024-25 while the rating district's financial balance is expected to be made clear at the meeting in Hari Hari tomorrow, according to the agenda.
Mr Sullivan said he would also like to see a more cohesive approach to the future of the scheme, rather than where each landowner on the scheme was only interested in looking after their own patch.
The agenda for the meeting on Thursday notes a verbal report on the Before the Deluge co-funding business case.
The regional council has already indicated it hopes to win some funding for improvement to the Wanganui scheme under a future round of the new regional infrastructure fund announced by the Government in the May 2024 Budget.
Local Democracy Reporting
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