Work to protect Canterbury from future flooding is ongoing, but disappointingly without a Government-funded boost, a regional councillor says.
Two years on from the historic floods in Mid Canterbury, Environment Canterbury (ECan) councillor Ian Mackenzie is continuing to lead a push for the Government to commit to investing in flood protection.
Mackenzie’s stance remains that prevention is cheaper than recovery.
He had hoped to see flooding resilience funding heading to regional councils in the recent Budget, which ECan would use to support the “redesign of the flood protection systems across the whole of Canterbury”.
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“We didn’t get that in the budget which was disappointing,” Mackenzie said.
About $15 million is spent annually managing rivers and maintaining $650m of flood protection infrastructure, he said. That in turn protected $110 billion worth of public and private assets.
With government co-investment they could get a lot more done, he said.
What was in the budget was a $100m flood and cyclone recovery package to boost resilience against future extreme weather events, but it is tagged for cyclone-hit North Island regions. There is also $22.9m to increase Westport’s flood protection and resilience.
The Government’s immediate priority in the budget was to support those communities affected by extreme weather, Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty said.
There is also a $6b for strategic investments as part of a National Resilience Plan, he said.
“This investment will initially focus on building back better from the recent weather events,” McAnulty said.
“It will also include future-proofing road, rail, and local infrastructure wiped out by the extreme weather, as well as telecommunications and electricity transmission infrastructure.”
STACY SQUIRES/Stuff
Trees and debris build up at the Maronan Bridge in Mid Canterbury during heavy rain and flooding in 2021.
He was unable to confirm if that included funding for the second urban bridge over the Ashburton/Hakatere River.
The campaign for annual Government flood protection funding continues but the work must go on, Mackenzie said.
“We can’t sit back and wait for that money, we have to get on and do some of the work ourselves.
“There is stuff we can do and we are trying to be as responsible as we can to safeguard the Canterbury community, but it would be a bloody sight easier if the Government gave us money.
“We are getting our own house in order so that as and if the funding becomes available, we can take advantage of it.”
A resilience project Mackenzie had hoped to secure Government funding to help with is progressing.
ECan has recalled some lease land and is in the process of finalising the purchase of a parcel of land to move the stop bank on the southern side of the North Branch of Ashburton/Hakatere River, near where it breached in 2021 in the Greenstreet area, Mackenzie said.
“We can move the stop bank out to give the river a bit more room to move.”
Then there is the shingle build-up in the river beds, “with plenty still to come out”.
“We are struggling to address our shingle extraction strategy because the RMA restricts our ability.”
