Products recently recalled
Thanks to our friends at Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment and the Ministry of Primary Industries, we're bringing Neighbourly members updates on recent recalls.Click on the item to get the full details.
Lisa’s brand Hummus Chargrilled Capsicum
Value brand Lemonade
Luv a Pie Butter Chicken pie
Clonbern Kitchen Truffle & Parmesan Beef Sausages
Magnetic Ball fidget toy
Oversized Kids Hoodie blanket
Tegel Chicken Sausages
New World NZ prime beef mince
Mr Beast Milk Chocolate Bar
The Original Paprika & Onion Kumara chips
Electric oil burner
This information is designed to help keep your home, family and friends safe.
Could the jury service process be improved?
Every year, thousands of New Zealanders are called up to serve as jurors in the High and District Courts, and it's an important way to contribute to your country.
But for some, jury service can be a huge disruption and a financial burden. Do you think changes could be made to our jury service system to address these challenges?
Controversial floodwall ‘may never stop leaking’
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Transfer of a controversial Franz Josef flood bank into West Coast Regional Council ownership remains to be seen as engineers assess the extent of its leaks.
The Havill Wall was controversially authorised by former Westland mayor Bruce Smith and his close ally, former councillor Durham Havill, following an April 2016 storm.
The event saw the Waiho (Waiau) River overtop an existing stopbank at the northern entrance to Franz Josef and wipe out the sewage treatment site.
It also ruined the now abandoned Scenic Group Franz Josef Mueller Wing hotel complex.
Transfer of the wall's ownership to the regional council is included in its 2024-34 long-term plan (LTP) as it moves to complete a $12.5 million stop bank improvement scheme in the area.
But during the recent formal LTP hearing, council chief executive Darryl Lew said the underlying engineering integrity of the Havill Wall still needs to be better understood.
Councillor Peter Ewen said he still felt uneasy about the Havill Wall and wanted to see how it coped with "a real southerly storm".
Councillor Andy Campbell, chair of the Franz Josef Joint Rating District, said the wall as it was, "may never stop leaking".
Lew said the regional council knew full well of the Havill Wall's "seepage" issue.
But at this stage council needed to fully understand to what extent that seepage compromised the structure's flood protection value.
Lew said all flood banks administered by council across the region to some extent "have seepage" and were never entirely "impervious flood barriers," he said.
It was if the degree of seepage was "acceptable to its viability", with that aspect currently under engineering investigation.
Lew said if the seepage was assessed as acceptable without compromising the protection value of the wall, "then that's fine".
If not, then it would not be acceptable to take on ownership.
Lew also noted the Government money for the north bank scheme had included future mitigation of the Havill Wall.
Ewen asked if the ownership transfer idea also extended to an emergency extension built at the end of the wall by the district council, following the January 2024 weather event.
The district council built the small extension amidst fears that, with the Waiho River having swung north into the neighbouring Tatare Stream, it might eventually take out the Franz Josef sewage ponds on the same side.
Lew said what the district council had done was "really an isolated" piece of work and the regional council did not intend to take it on.
The Havill Wall was controversially thrown up without regional council consent.
In 2017 Westland District got a grilling from the Office of the Auditor General over its actions, and the wall subsequently got retrospective consent.
The regional council has already undertaken work on the Havill Wall under its $12m Waiho northern bank protection scheme - which aims to increase resilience for the tourist hotspot of Franz Josef.
West Coast to review who pays for flood protection
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
West Coasters could pay a universal rate for flood protection assets in future - regardless of where they live.
The West Coast Regional Council will consider various options as part of a rating district review due by 2027.
Currently, 23 special rating districts pay targeted rates to maintain river stop banks or coastal protection walls in their area.
The rating district setup, on behalf of local communities, includes the three main towns of Greymouth, Westport, and Hokitika, the tourist hotspots of Punakaiki and Franz Josef, and multiple farming communities along the region's 650km length.
A report to councillors for the 2024-34 long-term plan (LTP) said the rating district review was included in consultation to indicate it "was required".
The way individual rating districts were founded had resulted in "a range of different rating scenarios" and constitutional arrangements.
It left "a level of complexity and inefficiency" in the gambit of what each rating area was for.
Haast submitter Vance Boyd said the benefit of rating districts was viewed differently within particular communities and it was a potentially divisive issue.
At the same time small communities struggled to raise the necessary capital to add protection.
Boyd said the council should rate across "the whole district" rather than relying on individual rating for particular areas.
Councillor Peter Ewen said the "bigger picture" of wider community benefit from protection assets had to be highlighted.
This was relevant for those outside a particular rating area who gained the benefit of accessing a service centre like Greymouth for example.
"The whole community benefits from those rating districts, it doesn't matter where they are," he said.
Long-time Westport surveyor Chris Coll also said the special rating district net should be thrown for the widest community benefit.
He estimated up to 15% of the town of Westport could fall "outside" the projected flood protection scheme for his area, yet all residents in the area would benefit from it.
Council chief executive Darryl Lew noted Westport was "a greenfield scheme" at this point and identifying the tangible benefit was yet to be worked through.
But the question of direct and indirect benefit would be assessed as the scheme design was finalised in the next couple of months.
Lew also noted Southland had now gone to "one targeted rate for all its special rating districts".
Councillor Brett Cummings said having one targeted rate might impact council's ability to tap external funding for new protection projects and that needed investigation.
Ewen noted one submitter viewed a universal approach to special rating areas as potentially penalising them for choosing to live "in less risky areas".
However, it was always on property buyers to be aware of the risk in the first place, he said.
James Sutherland, for Federated Farmers, said the proposed review should go out for full consultation given 6500 ratable properties across the region were not currently within a special rating area.
The report noted rating district asset management as "crucial to support the region" because it:
* protects economic productivity,
* reduces natural hazard risk to communities,
* promotes safety and wellbeing.
During formal LTP deliberations, Cummings said the review was not just about rates but the constitution of the rating districts.
Lew agreed, saying a lot of the submitters had focused only on benefit.
But all aspects of the current rating schemes needed to be reviewed including that some were rated based on land value, others on capital value.
The question of council back-office costs for individual districts also had to be assessed, he said.
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