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For most of us, seeing a friendly doggo while out and about instantly brings a smile to our faces. But how do you feel about cafes welcoming pups inside?
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Find out how to create your own with these easy step by step … View moreCornhole is the perfect game for summer entertaining and the matching scoreboard helps you see who’s winning at a glance.
Finish in contrasting Resene Lustacryl colours or choose complementary colours to suit your home.
Find out how to create your own with these easy step by step instructions.
By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
The Grey District Council has asked the Ministry for the Environment to investigate the process that led to a company being given consents for a private dump directly above the Greymouth water treatment plant.
Mayor Tania Gibson says her council is … View moreBy local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
The Grey District Council has asked the Ministry for the Environment to investigate the process that led to a company being given consents for a private dump directly above the Greymouth water treatment plant.
Mayor Tania Gibson says her council is not satisfied the Taylorville Resource Park landfill is safe and has not been able to resolve the issue of how consents were granted, by the West Coast Regional Council.
Neither the council nor the dump’s neighbours, nor local iwi were consulted when the WCRC consented to the dumping of demolition and construction waste on private land at Coal Creek.
The company – whose directors are also directors of Timaru-based Paul Smith Earthmoving - was served with an abatement notice in March by the Environmental Protection Authority, after tests showed an unlined sediment pond was leaching contaminated water.
That notice was lifted this month after the company complied with orders to empty the pond and build a new lined one.
But Grey District mayor Tania Gibson says that does not go far enough.
“We believe the landfill should never have been consented for this sort of waste in the first place; who builds a dump ab ove a water supply these days? We’re unhappy that we weren’t considered an affected party and we’ve written to the Ministry for the Environment asking them to look into how that was allowed to happen.”
Her council had also written to the Ministry of Health alerting it to the potential hazard it believes the dump poses to public health.
“We all learned from Havelock North’s experience and we want to make sure the risks are known to the authorities – in case there’s a major landslide or earthquake and contaminated material comes down, and enters the water supply.”
The regional council had declined to give her council information about the investigation and monitoring process, citing legal advice, Mrs Gibson said.
“It’s been very frustrating when one council won’t share information with another - they asked us not to go to the Ministry, but they’ve left us no option."
Both the WCRC and Taylorville Resource Park Ltd. have been approached for comment.
*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
Franz Josef community leaders are urging the West Coast Regional Council to think twice before saddling them with a $4 million debt for flood protection.
The Government has offered the council $6 million to build stopbanks protecting farms and … View moreBy local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
Franz Josef community leaders are urging the West Coast Regional Council to think twice before saddling them with a $4 million debt for flood protection.
The Government has offered the council $6 million to build stopbanks protecting farms and lifestyle blocks on the south banks of the Waiho River opposite the town, if ratepayers contribute the remaining $4m.
The sum would also cover extensions to a stopbank on the north bank protecting Franz Josef’s sewerage ponds.
The council is contacting property owners this week by mail with details of the loan offer and what they would be up for in special rates.
It has previously said a $400,000 property would pay an extra $1076 a year and an $800,000 one would pay $2152, over a ten-year loan period.
Just north of Franz Josef, Stony Creek resident Adam Haugh said he and his neighbours, who live out of the flood zone but still pay rates for stopbanks, were nervous about the deal.
“Maybe it will be acceptable to pay $500 a year to protect Franz Josef infrastructure that makes the village liveable. We all wait with great expectation to see if the council has come up with something sensible."
The most sensible thing in his view, would be to get rid of some stopbanks and let the river go to the south, away from Franz Josef.
That would mean sacrificing some south bank farms that are under repeated attack from the rampaging river, whose bed grows higher by the year as rocks tumble down from a retreating glacier.
But if nothing changed, Franz Josef’s sewerage ponds would have to be moved away from the river, costing an estimated $10 million, Haugh said.
“If we could release the river to the south, not only do we save the cost of a stop bank loan, we’d actually save the $10m cost of having to build a new sewerage plant.”
The regional council’s core business was building and maintaining stopbanks, Haugh said, and several councillors had experience in the associated industries.
“That’s their thing. They’re very good at it, but I wonder if they’d ever make a pitch to the government to actually get rid of a stopbank?”
With the government’s $6 million and the ratepayers’ $4m, the lower Waiho farms could be bought up at valuation, and the river let go, ultimately saving money for the government and ratepayers, Haugh said.
Figures provided by the regional council show a valuation of just over $13m for 26 lower Waiho rateable properties.
But the regional council told Franz Josef ratepayers last month that the government grant and loan money cannot be used for that purpose.
Adam Haugh is not the only one urging a rethink.
Business man Logan Skinner, a north bank representative on the council’s Franz Josef Special Rating District’s joint committee, says the stop banks have a design life of just 10 years.
Asking a small ratepayer base to take on a $4m debt for a temporary solution to protect about 30 south bank properties makes little economic sense, he said.
“The stop banks might last longer – or they could be swept away or damaged sooner – and what do we do then? Go back to the government and say ‘Please sir can we have some more'?"
The original 10-year ‘hold the line’ approach was based on a buyout happening, but that had now been scrapped with no alternative long-term plan in place, Skinner said.
Another Franz Josef ratepayer, Ian Hartshorne said north bank residents would foot most of the bill for the south-side stopbanks.
The south and north banks previously had separate rating districts, but at the government’s insistence they were combined last year.
“Now we’re all back into a joint venture, the town’s going to pay for most of it – over 90% of the bill - because the properties on the south side are pretty worthless.”
Westland mayor Helen Lash says the south bank properties are worth a lot more than $13-million including some very productive farms and cutting them loose would devastate the community.
“If you lose the south side, you lose about 40 residents from Franz Josef. You lose kids at the school, and some key players in the real community. On the north, it’s mainly the tourist businesses.
“We know the south side people bought there because the land was at risk and cheaper, but they’ve invested heavily in their properties and they’re the heart of the Franz Josef community."
One day the river would have its way and take out the Waiho flats, the mayor agreed.
"But as Minister Shane Jones has told us, there’s no money in world that could cover the cost of relocating the number of New Zealand townships that were built in volatile places.
“If they did it here, they’d have to do it everywhere. A buy-out is just not on the government’s table."
Meanwhile, the big conversation that should be happening about a long-term plan for Franz Josef has been once again kicked for touch, the mayor says.
“If we’re buying time by building stopbanks, what for? What are we going to do with that time to somehow secure a future for those south side residents?
“That is the plan we should be working on with the government and I think it’s clear our Westland district council will have to lead it.”
*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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Drivers get where they need to go, but sometimes it seems that we are all abiding by different road rules (for example, the varying ways drivers indicate around a roundabout).
Do you think drivers should be required to take a quick driving theory test every 10 years?
Vote in the poll and share… View moreDrivers get where they need to go, but sometimes it seems that we are all abiding by different road rules (for example, the varying ways drivers indicate around a roundabout).
Do you think drivers should be required to take a quick driving theory test every 10 years?
Vote in the poll and share any road rules that you've seen bent! 😱
Ryman Healthcare has won the Canstar Blue 2024 award for Most Satisfied Customers in Retirement Villages in what is a first for the company.
The award recognises retirement living communities with the highest customer satisfaction. Ryman topped the rankings, achieving a perfect five-star … View moreRyman Healthcare has won the Canstar Blue 2024 award for Most Satisfied Customers in Retirement Villages in what is a first for the company.
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On Saturday, 28th of September we'll be holding an online garage sale and you are invited - both to score some bargains and to sell your wares!
The sun is starting to shine and perhaps you're ready to part with your winter goods, get involved by listing your goods ahead of … View moreOn Saturday, 28th of September we'll be holding an online garage sale and you are invited - both to score some bargains and to sell your wares!
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By local democracy reporter Lois Williams,
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has lifted the abatement notice it served on the owners of a private dump near Greymouth, saying it now meets national standards for a landfill.
But Grey mayor Tania Gibson says the Taylorville Resource … View moreBy local democracy reporter Lois Williams,
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has lifted the abatement notice it served on the owners of a private dump near Greymouth, saying it now meets national standards for a landfill.
But Grey mayor Tania Gibson says the Taylorville Resource Park – sited directly above the intake for Greymouth’s water supply - is still a disaster waiting to happen and should be closed.
“If there’s a major slip or an earthquake - it doesn’t bear thinking about what would happen. The enormity of this keeps being played down,” she said.
EPA investigators issued an abatement notice on the dump’s owners after they found it was leaching contaminated water from an unlined sediment pond.
The authority was asked by the West Coast Regional Council to step in as an independent investigator after the Grey District Council challenged the WCRC’s handling of resource consents for hazardous waste at the site.
The EPA’s investigations manager, Jackie Adams, said the extensive work needed to bring the landfill up to national standards has now been done.
“[Taylorville Resource Park] had to empty the existing pond and build a new, lined storage facility.
“This has now been completed and recent water samples taken from the area show that contaminated water is no longer being discharged from the site.”
The EPA’s investigation was now concluded and its intervention was at an end, Adams said.
“Ongoing regulation and monitoring of the site remain the responsibility of the regional council."
But Gibson said her council was a long way from being convinced the Taylorville site is safe.
Although the Grey District council had issued the original subdivision consents for the landfill, it had not been informed when the Regional Council had consented it for hazardous waste, the mayor said.
“We were not considered an affected party – unbelievable. We’ve got tonnes of toxic material - building materials, coal tar, paint, sitting directly above our public water intake that supplies 10,500 people, schools, hospitals."
The Grey District Council would continue paying for additional independent tests of its water which came from a bore at the Taylorville site above the Grey River, Gibson said.
So far tests had not found unsafe levels of any potentially harmful substances in the town’s water.
“But we will keep paying for tests – if anything happens we want to be able to say as a council that we did everything we could to prevent it.”
Taylorville Resource Park has been approached for comment.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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By local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
The West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) is going back to the drawing board to come up with a new Coastal Plan, controlling what can and can’t be done or built on the foreshore.
Regional Coastal Plans are a requirement under the RMA for all regional… View moreBy local democracy reporter Lois Williams:
The West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) is going back to the drawing board to come up with a new Coastal Plan, controlling what can and can’t be done or built on the foreshore.
Regional Coastal Plans are a requirement under the RMA for all regional authorities, to manage the coastal marine area - stretching for mean highwater springs to 12 nautical miles offshore.
They regulate the activities the council will allow in that area; they must give effect to the New Zealand Coastal Policy statement, and they must be reviewed every 10 years.
But the WCRC’s last attempt to update its Coastal Plan was never completed, mainly because of staff shortages, and parts of it are now well out of date.
Chief executive Darryl Lew asked councillors this month for approval to withdraw the old plan and start again.
“A lot of the resources of this council have been going into the Tai o Poutini (district) Plan, which we run but don’t govern and we’ve not been able to pursue our own regional plans, which are actually our work,” he said.
In the past few weeks, Regional Council staff had begun focusing on that work including the Coastal and Air Quality plans.
A staff report outlining the issues and options in a new coastal plan said the main activities needing regulation in the CMA were temporary whitebait stands, hard protection structures (seawalls), gravel and sand removal, and small-scale beach mining.
The council grants an average six or seven resource consents for activities a year and has dealt with 29 incidents involving those consents in the past four years.
Most commonly, they involved the removal of beach material within Coastal Hazards Areas, and flood protection structures.
The main concerns for iwi, consulted under the council’s Mana Whakahono agreement, were offshore seabed mining and the discharge of untreated sewage into the ocean, staff reported.
That was culturally offensive to Poutini Ngai Tahu, but the coast’s three main centres all pumped treated wastewater out to sea, and there were limited options for land-based disposal, the report noted.
The regulatory options were to require the urban sewage to be treated to a high standard, consult with iwi over resource consents, and proactively monitor those consents.
Buller councillor Frank Dooley had concerns about possible restrictions on seawalls, discouraged as ’hard protection structures’ which could cause erosion, in the national policy directive.
“We have to recognise that at times they are the only option,” he said.
Councillor Brett Cummings agreed.
“Down at Haast at the moment they’re putting in rock (defences) to protect the power poles – we don’t want to get in the way of that.”
Dooley also challenged a staff suggestion that seawalls could be treated as restricted discretionary activities in the new plan.
But the word “restricted” referred to council’s powers to regulate and was in fact favourable to the applicant, the chief executive explained.
“With these plans, you are the governors, and you have a chance to say what you want in them. I would urge you to get involved in the workshops and you will end up with the plans you want,” Lew said.
Councillors voted unanimously to withdraw the old unfinished Coastal Plan and start work on the new one.
The council is aiming to begin consultation with stakeholders next month, and have the plan notified and out for public submissions in early 2026.
*LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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