West Coast council accepts Franz Josef loan offer

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:

The West Coast Regional Council has voted to take up the government’s offer to co-fund a second round of flood protection at Franz Josef.

The decision follows a fractious meeting in the tourist town on Wednesday night, with local ratepayers agonising over how to pay for the work, and insisting they authorise what the council builds and spends.

Scientists and engineers have warned the community is at high to critical risk from the wild Waiho (Waiau) River unless urgent work is done to top up and rebuild damaged stopbanks, as a stop gap measure.

At a brief extraordinary Council meeting in Greymouth on Friday, chairperson Peter Haddock moved the council accept the offer of funding, up to a value of $7.9 million.

The government’s original offer was for $10m, as a 60/40 split: a grant of $6m and a loan of $4m to Waiho ratepayers.

But that included the cost of strengthening the massive flood banks built to protect State Highway 6, and the council excluded that component after Franz Josef objected to funding a Crown asset.

The council vote to accept the funding was all but unanimous: rebel councillor Allan Birchfield was the sole dissenting voice, saying he had no confidence in the council to honestly and fairly administer the money, and the council was not trusted by the community.

“And I don’t have the confidence in you, Peter - so I’m voting against it.”

Haddock said the criticism was unfair.

He said he had been to five meetings with Franz Josef ratepayers to try to rebuild trust and apologise to them for the way they were treated by the council previously, when Birchfield was the chairperson.

“The previous council had no meetings with them for over five years, very poor financial paperwork … I’ve been through the minutes and I see you don’t appear in most of them, the previous money was lost back to the government and I’m afraid that lies with you Allan [Birchfield].”

Councillor Brett Cummings, who was a member of the Waiho ratepayers joint committee, reminded Birchfield that only two people at the Franz Josef meeting had opposed accepting the funding and loan.

“I feel quite confident, Allan, that the community group down there has quite a lot of control on how and where the money’s being spent - their money.”

Councillor Peter Ewen said he wanted to acknowledge the Franz Josef community, and the angst it had gone through over the decision.

“I agree with them over not taking the $10 million ... [but] this is ensuring the Insurance Council does not walk away from the situation. We are helping ourselves, and I’m sure the council with its best endeavours and professional river staff will adhere to the wishes of the community down there.”

If nature played its part, the Franz Josef community would now gain the time to come up with a final plan for its future, which was the purpose of the funding, Ewen said.

Birchfield asked engineer Scott Hoare why it was planning to tear down and rebuild the Milton stopbank on the sourh side, saying he had been there when it was built and it was well “found”.

Hoare said the bank would not be torn down, but was slumping in places and the rocks would be taken out and restacked.

Councillor Frank Dooley said he had every confidence in Haddock as council chairperson.

“I really appreciate the work you’ve done to bring this organisation to the position it’s now in ... the West Coast community can only benefit through your leadership.”

The regional council had until Monday to tell the government if it would accept the funding for Franz Josef and that would now happen, Haddock said after the meeting.