In limbo Waiho Flat residents may get clarity soon

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon

Waiho Flat residents in limbo for years over their futures due to worsening gravel build-up in the Waiho (Waiau) River may have a clearer path within eight weeks.

West Coast Regional Council chief executive Darryl Lew said on Thursday he accepted a special rating district meeting for Franz Josef and Waiho River ratepayers was "well overdue".

But work under way this week to formulate a strategic approach to the river should help pave the way forward.

He made the comment on day two of a workshop of hydrology, engineering and river modelling experts in a technical advisory group (TAG) focused on Franz Josef.

Lew said they had all previously studied the Waiho River and as a group had visited the riverbank on Wednesday before returning to Greymouth on Thursday to draft options to address both "old and new issues to feed into a report for the future".

He clarified his comment yesterday that all flood protection work on the Waiho was "on hold" while the options were drafted.

"I want to be very clear, while there is additional planning work required for the future management of this river, infrastructure works under way now will continue to progress."

The already approved stage 1 work under the $24 million Waiho protection scheme on the north bank was continuing as planned, providing a new link bank down from the Franz Josef heliport.

However, work on a further low bank to prevent the Waiho from flowing into the adjoining Tatare River was not proceeding as it had not started.

"At the moment we're not working on the Tatare bank — there's no Tatare bank."

Any Tatare solution may fall into a future a stage two scheme but nothing had been decided yet, Lew said.

However, the work of the TAG convened this week could help shape what happened next.

"We're not progressing on any of that new stuff until we get the results of this report."

While convening the panel of experts this week might appear to some as a repeat of past activity given "a huge number" of Waiho reports in the past, "what we are doing now is assessing the new threats that have presented themselves in recent months".

"These may require a new approach for the future."

He said "some of the best minds in New Zealand" were on the ground to formulate a 10-year river management strategy for the regional council to deliver.

"It will not cover infrastructure such as the road, heli-pad, oxidation ponds or the town itself. Decisions around those assets will need to be made, but that comes next."

The report would be drafted over the coming month and then be presented to the regional council, Westland District Council, the NZ Transport Agency and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, "before being taken to the community in six to eight weeks' time".

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