Whanganui District Council wants answers as riverbank erosion dents budgets

The Somme Parade project is set to cost $3.5 million. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui district councillors want more clarity about who is in charge of protecting the Whanganui River’s banks from erosion.

The council is currently repairing a slip site on Somme Parade with the project set to cost $3.5 million.

Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency will pay for 60 per cent of it, but the council needs to cover the rest.

Council transport manager Damien Wood told a council operations and performance committee his team didn’t have a budget allocation for preventative measures.

“I believe the responsibility for riverbank erosion falls with the [Horizons] regional council, and that depends on whether it’s an activity they rate for on that section of river or not.

“We are purely reactive to the effects of erosion.”

Whanganui Deputy Mayor Helen Craig asked for council chief executive David Langford to have a conversation with Horizons about riverbank vulnerabilities and protection, and what measures were in place.

Councillor Jenny Duncan said the district council was in a catch-22 situation.

There would be “a rating consequence” if it tried to be proactive with erosion, but reacting to damage cost a lot more, she said.

“Something needs to be done and we need to be informed,” Duncan said.

Horizons Regional Council catchment manager Dr Jon Roygard told the Chronicle the two councils had a strong, collaborative working relationship.

He said he looked forward to a conversation with the district council about riverbank erosion “to work that through with them”.

“In terms of erosion control across the Whanganui catchment, we do a wide range of work to stabilise hill country through our sustainable land use initiative, which has been very successful across the region,” Roygard said.

He said the two councils worked on multiple projects together for the benefit of the Whanganui community.

“That includes Te Pūwaha - towards the port and north and south moles - and we’ve got work around Anzac Pde in relation to removing temporary flood barriers and getting more permanent solutions in place.

“Later this week, we are working with the [district council] team on an emergency management exercise.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.