Hokitika protection needed ‘with haste’
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Bolstering the Hokitika River floodwalls skirting the town near Westland Milk Products should proceed "with haste" and be prioritised over sea protection, a West Coast Regional councillor says.
Westland ward councillor and deputy chairman Peter Haddock said addressing the shift in the main channel to the true right, with a real risk of it cutting in to the bank in the vicinity of Westland Milk Products (WMP), was a priority for the council.
The council wants it addressed "with haste," he said.
The threat of the river to the West Coast economy, and the low lying residential areas in Hokitika, could not be underestimated, he said.
"There's been discussions taking place between council and WMP and other affected parties to get some emergency repairs undertaken there," Haddock said.
This included more rock work on the bank at the Westland District Council stormwater outfall point, just behind the factory at the end of Town Belt East, almost immediately.
Haddock said council's infrastructure projects leader Scott Hoare had been instructed "to proceed with haste".
It came after a joint meeting of the Hokitika rating district just prior to the October elections.
Former Westland mayor Bruce Smith warned of the danger of litigation if the river bank issue was not taken more urgently by the regional council.
Hoare said things were "progressing" but he would not be drawn on how quickly.
"We're working through that project," he said.
The previous design and concept work to improve the stopbank from Kaniere down to the Hokitika River Bridge had been reviewed in terms of how it would work.
"We've got some changes downstream of the milk factory to the bridge."
Hoare said this was to better understand "the risks". He noted every West Coast river posed "a risk" but he acknowledged particular risk at Hokitika. "We have no immediate concerns but it is still a risk."
Haddock said council had already been allocated `shovel ready' money by the Government department Kanoa to address sea protection in Hokitika, but was asking for a review of that.
"Council is talking to them about whether the river works are more pressing due to the immediate threats to Westland dairy and the lower part of Hokitika.
"It may be that there is emergency works done quickly, but there is a lot of planning needed... It has been given the highest priority."
Haddock said at the same time, the council now had a fresh opportunity to apply for new infrastructure funding via Kanoa for further projects and it was "actively pursuing' those.
More rock work on the bank at the Westland District Council stormwater outfall point, just behind the factory at the end of Town Belt East, was due to be done almost immediately.
The economic implications for the whole region of the Hokitika River breaking through and inundating the dairy factory and the residential area should not be underrated, he said.
"We've really got to put a good business case there. The dairy company is so important... it would be an environmental disaster.
"It is quite vulnerable... the main thing is to secure the funding; because without the funding the ratepayers can't afford it."
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
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Horse rider pleads for support to keep them safe on roads
A nationwide campaign to have horse-riders officially recognised as vulnerable road users has been offered supported by the West Coast’s Regional Transport committee.
The committee heard a presentation this month from equestrian safety advocate Julia McLean, who recently took a petition to Parliament on behalf of riding associations across the country.
The petition, signed by close to 9000 people, asks the government to recognise the vulnerability of horse riders in transport legislation.
“Currently we sit in the ‘other road user’ category and that gives no benefits whatsoever and most critically we are not included in education or road safety-messaging,” McLean said.
Horse-riders were continually dealing with reckless and dangerous behaviour by motorists, she told the committee.
“We get reports from our rider groups of horses being killed: there was one in Reefton, and another in Ruatoki; just two weeks ago a horse was hit and killed by a truck and the rider was taken to hospital."
Riders were also put at risk by aggressive drivers tooting their horns, winding down their windows and shouting, and passing at speed and too closely, she told the committee.
But unlike accidents involving pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, such incidents involving horses were not captured in the statistics.
When she had asked NZTA for data, said said all it could tell her was that it had issued 13 infringements in 13 years, for failing to take care around a ridden animal or stock.
“When someone comes so close they touch your stirrup, or they hoot their horn as they go past ... it’s the abuse - it’s everywhere."
In a case down south, a truck driver refused to slow down despite hand signals and the rider fell off just in front of him, she said.
She had asked the road safety director for NZ Police to look at providing a ‘tick-box’ for horse-riders in incident reports, Ms McLean said.
“It’s a small, low-cost measure that would allow us to have some proper data, an informed understanding of what’s happening out there on the roads, and in turn some targeted road safety messaging.”
She was motivated to become a safety advocate by her own experience at the age of 25, when she fractured her skull in a near-fatal riding accident on a Kaiapoi road.
“I lost all memory of my childhood; my sense of taste and smell is gone forever. I was in a coma for week, I lost my career and it’s taken me 16 years to fully recover,” she told LDR.
Her accident had not been caused by a car: her horse had shied and thrown her when a piece of paper on the verge moved suddenly in the wind.
But the incident was a grim reminder of what could happen if a horse were startled, she said.
The UK and Australia had recently changed their road codes to give drivers explicit instructions on passing horses.
“It needs to be explicit. We can’t assume people just get it anymore. Common sense is not a thing. We actually have to tell people what we require, to pass a horse wide and slow - wide is two metres.”
A total of 37 organisations were now endorsing her campaign, including police, trucking companies, pony clubs and 10 other regional councils, McLean told the committee.
Transport Committee chairperson Peter Ewen was supportive of Ms McLeans safety campaign.
“In rural New Zealand we have a lot of narrow roads, and we do have riders on them – I would like to think that courtesy is given to those riders."
Regional council chairperson Peter Haddock said he sympathised with the cause but had reservations about riders on state highways.
“I would encourage it on low volume council roads but would struggle to support riding on highways where you’ve got traffic following closely behind.
“It’s difficult to find you suddenly have a horse in front of you and slowly pass it and go from 100kphs to 10kphs. It’s a dangerous situation."
McLean said horse riders did not want to ride on highways, and accidents were happening on 50kph local roads.
She appealed to West Coast mayors and chairs present to consider horse riders when they built shared pathways like cycle trails.
“We don’t need a hard surface, just a bit of dirt or grass at the side.”
The Transport Committee agreed to draft a letter to the national transport authorities, endorsing McLean’s safety campaign but stating its reservations about horses on highways.
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