Southland residents in limbo as coastal erosion threatens homes

Bluecliffs is a coastal hamlet situated near Tūātapere, rural Southland. Accelerated erosion is causing issues for properties, and their owners. Photo / Emergency Management Southland

Residents of a small Southland hamlet hammered by coastal erosion are living in limbo, as the river next to their properties inches closer.

In February, Bluecliffs entered a state of emergency after the Waiau River ate away at the bank and began to threaten properties.

But following a March meeting in nearby Tūātapere, hosted by key stakeholders, hope of a solution also began to erode.

Further attempts at cutting into the river bar were viewed as unlikely to succeed, and other works came with a high price tag.

Five months on from that meeting, some residents are none the wiser about their precarious situation, or what the future will look like.

Uli Sirch has lived on Bluecliffs Beach for about 30 years and runs a honey business from her property.

She has no plans to leave – in part because it wouldn’t be possible.

“Nobody would buy it (my house) in their right mind, because the threat is right there and nothing has been fixed,” she said.

“My plan is that I stay here until things change dramatically.”

Houses in the area overlook the Waiau River, and on the other side of that, the ocean. Photo / Matthew Rosenberg / LDR

Sirch was a vocal voice amid the township’s February and March woes, and at one point made headlines for saying she had no plans to heed an evacuation call so an old dumpsite could be evacuated.

Dialogue with the council following the meeting has ground to a halt, she says, leaving her hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

“If it becomes dangerous, I’m obviously going to do something about it. Start living in the shed, because it’s the closest to the road. Maybe [I’ll] have to buy a caravan. Maybe [I’ll] have to do something else.

“But at the moment, pretty much, I’m stuck.

“I have to stay here because I can’t sell and can’t go anywhere else.”

Neighbour Joan Redpath is in a similar predicament at a home she’s shared with her husband since the late 1970s.

Unable to afford a move, the couple have decided to stick it out and let nature take its course.

Redpath says the council isn’t providing solutions or monetary assistance but has told them they would help in other ways.

“We’re over it. We’ve decided it’ll be what it’ll be. We can’t change it.”

Joan Redpath has called Bluecliffs home since the late 1970s and has no plans to leave. Photo / Tess Brunton / RNZ

Despite about 20-30 metres of land disappearing from the front of their property in the past year, the pair remain resolute.

Their future in Bluecliffs hangs in the balance, but they’d be willing to live out of their caravan or shed if it came to it.

“You couldn’t sell it (the house). It’s valueless. But that’s life.”

In response to questions from Local Democracy Reporting, Southland mayor Rob Scott said there had been no change in the situation at Bluecliffs, but monitoring was still being undertaken.

The council had offered property owners practical assistance to investigate buying adjoining land, but there was little support, he said.

“We understand the property owners’ concerns and appreciate that they are in a difficult position, but other than the assistance that has already been offered there is little more that we as a council can do.”

The council had been in regular contact with some residents, but no financial assistance had been offered.