Govt will need to fund lion’s share

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Local politicians in cyclone and flood-hit regions around the North Island have responded cautiously to the Government’s announcement this week about the co-funding of buyout offers for almost 700 homeowners in the highest risk areas, and flood protection works for about 10,000 homeowners where it has been deemed that severe weather event risks can be managed.

It is the start of a complex and demanding process that everyone knows is going to be hugely expensive, and there is little indication of how much councils and their ratepayers will be on the hook for this.

What is certain is that all councils struggle with affordability issues and will be hoping the Government and taxpayers fund the vast majority of property buyouts and community-level interventions to protect Category 2 homes, where flooding risks need to be mitigated.

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz told RNZ yesterday that before talking about how the costs would be split, both parties needed to know the type and scale of the flood protection works required . . . and the Government would need to foot most of the bill for projects in this region.

“I have been very clear right from the start that our community is hurting and that we will need significant financial support.”

Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson said on Thursday that a principle split amount would be set initially for co-funding arrangements, but then there would be room for discussions.

In this region, 17 homeowners have learned that their property is in the provisional Category 3, meaning their home is deemed not safe to live in because of the unacceptable risk of future flooding and loss of life.

This will have been a traumatic time since the deluge of Cyclone Gabrielle and everyone will be feeling for them. At least they have some certainty now — hopefully that brings all of them a measure of relief, and the process from here is fair and managed well.

We don’t know how many homes in Tairāwhiti are in Category 2 but maps of affected areas with their classifications are expected to be released at the end of next week.

One obvious area of work needing to be prioritised is stopbank raising on the western side of the Waipaoa River, especially to protect Te Karaka.

At the moment raising the western stopbank from the Whakaahu Stream at Patutahi and working upriver is scheduled for October 2024 onwards; the overall Waipaoa Flood Control Climate Change Resilience project that began in 2019, which has an estimated cost of $32m-$35m, is set to be completed in 2030-31.

Fast-tracking this work will no doubt add significantly to the cost.