Proposed Westport flood scheme may be changed

An aerial view looking east of the flooded town of Westport in July 2021. The alignment of the proposed ring stop bank as outlined in the business case currently before the government, bordering the Buller River and sweeping across the eastern side of Westport, may now be adjusted further inland. Photo: NZDF / supplied

The eastern alignment of the ring bank for the proposed Westport flood scheme needs to be changed, even though the design for the $56 million flood package is already sitting with Cabinet awaiting approval.

The Westport Joint Rating District Committee has now recommended the Snodgrass Road area also must be addressed in that co-funded scheme.

The committee this week heard an indicative cost for a new south-eastern alignment, known as the 'V-bank', would cost an estimated $3.5m.

It was one of several "quick-win" projects, costing $6m in total, put before the committee.

West Coast Regional Council consulting engineer Gary Williams said further work since the business case showed the alignment for the eastern section was now "problematic for a number of reasons".

These included significant ponding and drainage issues centred in the McKenna Road area and across the rural area bordering that end of Westport.

Williams said they had modified the alignment in the quick-win proposals up for discussion.

West Coast regional councillor Frank Dooley said the "big gap" between the $56m case with the government and the implications of a further report by Williams last August, had to be urgently addressed.

But there had been no conversations yet with the government about the business case alignment.

Dooley proposed that in line with Williams' report last August, the ring bank alignment should be expanded to the south and east of the town.

This included an extended Buller River bank and pushing out the original proposed alignment towards the Victoria Road and Nine Mile Road intersection.

Dooley also reported that he and fellow Buller ward councillor Mark McIntyre had met with Snodgrass Road residents last month.

They were very concerned about that area being left by the wayside and discussions with the government to "get some common sense" was now vital.

Dooley said he believed West Coast Tasman MP Damien O'Connor would back that, and it was urgent.

It had to include discussing the protocols around red zone areas, subject to tweaking the original floodbank proposal there, and what was needed to buy some residents out.

West Coast Regional Council chairman Peter Haddock said the quick-win proposal was about the council having some "skin in the game" immediately.

He noted the government really needed some hard evidence with modelling for any proposal.

"Pet projects don't get anywhere," Haddock said.

Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine said he largely agreed with that and he supported the alternative Snodgrass alignment.

However, the "big nut to crack" was getting the government to pay for it.

Cleine said he expected the Cabinet decision would not be fixed to the first alignment but depending on final design.

"The alignments are not miles apart in terms of cost."

However, he needed to be convinced of the benefits of the Snodgrass extension.

Cleine said he was a little hesitant about backing a localised solution when there was no clear pathway for the households that would be left out.

Williams said the original Snodgrass stopbank proposal was not a good cost-benefit outcome, based on pure economics. Having the consistent bank protection, as in the original proposal, would not raise the level of protection beyond a 50-year return flood.

"It was a concept, it hasn't gone past that."

Dooley said no one yet knew how the government might respond overall, particularly given the implications of Cyclone Gabrielle.

There was already a lobbying elsewhere for red zoning.

However the West Coast, "have to get into the conversation".

Cleine disagreed: "We are in a conversation."

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air