Latest news with #FranzJosef
RNZ News
01-08-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
'Yet another rate': Franz Josef ratepayers balk at $2.8m stopbank extension
The Franz Josef oxidation ponds will need to be moved due to the risk of the Waiho River. Photo: LDR / Lois Williams Franz Josef ratepayers have given the thumbs down to plans for a $2.8 million stopbank extension to protect the town's sewerage plant from the Waiho River. Local members of the joint committee that oversees flood protection for the tourist town voted unanimously last night not to go ahead with the Havill Wall extension. Instead, the Westland District Council will investigate moving its sewerage ponds as soon as possible. West Coast Regional Council members of the committee abstained from voting. The council has already signed a contract with Kanoa to extend the wall, using $1.6 million of government funding, and adding $1 million to rates bills as the local share. But Westland mayor Helen Lash, who chairs the committee, said ratepayers are already groaning under the burden of flood protection loans, and last night's vote shows they have had enough. "The rest of the stopbank work they've begrudgingly accepted but this one challenges them; it's another cost, yet another rate ,,, it's not clear that it will save the ponds and they're paying enough already." The Havill Wall extension was the last job left on the Regional Council's to-do list, in its $10 million upgrade of the north bank flood walls, co-funded by the government. A NIWA study, commissioned by the council, found the extension would buy more time to move the sewerage ponds but much depended on flood patterns over the next few years. The existing Havill Wall was built after the ponds were wiped out by the Waiho in flood in 2016. Lash said since then councils have kicked the can down the road rather than tackle the job of shifting the ponds because the cost is likely to be unaffordable. Westland mayor Helen Lash says ratepayers are already groaning under the burden of flood protection loans Photo: LDR / Lois Williams "It's a another huge burden for a small community. We either spread the spread the cost over Westland, or put it on Franz Josef. "But why should 500 residents fund something that needs to be of a size to service a tourism population of 3500 beds? You can't do that. It's not right that a small rating base has that sort of pressure on them." The Westland mayor said the council had options for land where the ponds could be relocated, and was beginning work on the plan to move them. "I have to have a conversation with Wellington - I've spoken to (Tourism Minister) Louise Upston about how we manage this and possible funding from the Visitor Levy - but we have to have a plan in place first before we talk funding." Regional Council chair Peter Haddock said he would also be seeking an urgent meeting with government ministers. Regional Council chair Peter Haddock. Photo: LDR / Lois Williams "The way I see it, the locals didn't feel they should pay the local share for what is a Westland District Council problem." But the risk was not just to the oxidation ponds, Haddock said. "We are going to need something in place - if there's no mitigation (the avulsion) could take out the State Highway and the Top 10 Holiday Park." The government share of funding for the Havill Wall extension could possibly be used instead for 'river training' - bulldozing rock bunds and other temporary measures to keep the river in check, Haddock said. "I think a yearly sum for river training - that's what we have to talk to the government about. This is more of a South Island and national issue than a local one. There are a lot more beneficiaries of this work than just the residents of Franz Josef." It was possible the Havill Wall expansion might still go ahead, depending on available funding, Haddock said. "But the Westland District Council, needs to get onto this really fast, their Long term Plan talks about building the new sewerage plant within nine years and we don't have that long. Time's running out." Ultimately Franz Josef would remain at risk until the river was released to the south, Haddock said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
05-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Fate of Franz Josef southbank not ours to decide, regional council says
West Coast Regional Council chair Peter Haddock pictured last August on the newly upgraded north bank floodwall. Photo: Lois Williams / LDR The long-term fate of Franz Josef farms, homes and businesses on the south bank of the Waiho (Waiau) River lies with the Westland District Council. That was the message to regional councillors this week as they prepare to celebrate the completion of the north bank floodwalls protecting the West Coast tourist town of Franz Josef. Regional Development Minister Shane Jones will officially open the multi-million dollar project , funded 60 percent by the government, on Friday morning. The West Coast Regional Council is about to embark on Stage 2 of the project, building stopbanks on the south side of the wild, glacier-fed river. The monthly planning report to the Resource Management Committee noted the Regional Council was making a submission on Franz Josef to the Westland District Council's long- term plan. Regional councillor Allan Birchfield asked what was in it. Planning manager Jo Field responded, saying the Regional Council wanted to see Westland committing resources and budget for a master plan for the future management of the south side. "We felt there wasn't enough (in the long-term plan) given the dangers down there from the Waiho River. Once we've built the (southside) floodwall it's only supposed to have a ten-year life so they need to do some planning around what to do for the future." The vast bed of the Waiho from stopbank, looking west. Photo: Lois Williams / LDR Birchfield asked if the West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) was "still pushing" for the south side to be abandoned. "We are pushing for them to do the master planning around that," Field said. Birchfield asked: "That's what you want though? For everyone to be moved out?" WCRC chair Peter Haddock said that was not the council's position. "The council's position is to maintain the floodwalls - it's up to the WDC (Westland District Council) to do any master planning around that. Our role is to provide flood banks as necessary." Birchfield said the plan to abandon the south side was in the WCRC's own long-term plan. Haddock said that was the recommendation made by the council's Technical Advisory Group, not by the council itself. Diggers at work on the stopbank protecting the town, last winter. Photo: Lois Williams / LDR Regional Council chief executive Darryl Lew said despite the completed north side stop banks, and the imminent start of work on the south side, the threat from the river remained. "The fact of the matter is that the Waiho River is continuing to aggrade in the reach below the bridge at a metre plus a year and every year that goes by diminishes the protection of those banks, to point where it's going to pose a risk despite the work you've done." The council could not continue to raise the banks ad infinitum because already the bed of that river was well above the town, Lew said. "We have to give the river some room for all of that sediment that's coming out of the Callery River and out of the main steam below the glacier, to move through the system." Birchfield said the easiest way to do that would be to "knock a hole" through the geological feature known as the Waiho Loop. But Lew said that had been dismissed as unfeasible by the Technical Advisory Group. The Waiho River bed is getting higher by the year, as rock and gravel wash down from the retreating glacier. Photo: Lois Williams / LDR Peter Ewen said Westland mayor Helen Lash had made it clear that her council wanted to take the lead on planning for Franz Josef's future and the ball was in her court. Haddock confirmed that the WCRC's role was only to build walls on behalf of the Franz Josef rating district, and its committee decided what work would be done. Westland councillor Andy Campbell said the biggest problem was that there was no money to buy out the southside property owners, resulting in a stalemate. "So, just wash them out to sea without any compensation?" Birchfield asked. Haddock said the WCRC had lobbied the government about a south side buyout and it was clear there was no money for it. "So we'll just have to wait and see what happens but in the interim there is a plan to protect and hold the line." - LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
