Planners tap into floodplain views

Greater Wellington Regional Council is developing a draft of the Waiohine Floodplain Management Plan. FILE PHOTO

Greater Wellington Regional Council flood protection department staff will be at the Wairarapa A&P show this weekend at Clareville to discuss floodplain management plans for Wairarapa rural areas.

GWRC senior communications adviser Brigitte de Barletta said the council is developing a draft of the Waiohine Floodplain Management Plan and "wants to hear about people's views on the preferred option to manage the flood risk for this community".

"For the Te Kauru Upper Ruamahanga Floodplain Management Plan we are in the middle of developing options to manage the risk," she said.

"We want people to give us their opinions about the plan we are developing and are focused on discussing options for rural communities at this time."

She said staff will be asking people to "traffic light" areas on the map and tell them "why they like or don't like what's on our drawing board".

"It's a huge area to cover, so we will encourage people to talk about the bits of the river they know best, like where you live or where you use the river."

She said the Lower Valley is also in the project planning stage.

"We want to know what flooding and erosion problems people know about. Do they have photos of past floods, or have they had ongoing problems from one of the rivers in that area?

"We will be asking people to draw or write on a large map of the lower valley. It's a real opportunity to put your flooding, erosion or river problems on the table before the project starts."

Mrs de Barletta said that more generally, staff want to talk to people about what goes on in their rivers to provide flood and erosion protection.

She said members of the regional council's operations team will be on hand to talk about what the dozers and diggers get up to in the rivers, how they do the work they need to do, and what is done to limit any damage to the environment.