Flats farmers irked by flood strategy
CLIMATE: Landowners claim their devalued farms are going down the river, reports Brendon McMahon.
Waiho Flat landowners are watching their devalued land “go down the river” despite a West Coast Regional Council promise four years ago that they would be protected.
Landowner Peter Dennehy said he was frustrated nothing had been done since the regional council “engineered” a rating districts amalgamation in 2020 to co-fund the protection of their flood-prone land, partly through a targeted rate.
“We’re watching our money going down the river every time it floods … we need help,” he said, during an emotionally charged meeting in Franz Josef.
Ratepayers expressed outrage at the way the 10-year Waiho River Management Strategy, announced in October, had effectively wiped their property values by 50 per cent.
Under the strategy, the Waiho Flat area would eventually be abandoned to the shifting river.
Waiho Flat landowner Sonja
Pettigrew said the latest official valuation wiped their land value by 50 per cent and she believed it had to be linked to the October announcement.
“It’s ruined our equity. We’ve made an objection,” Pettigrew said. “We believe the local council has been involved in this major devaluation … this is unacceptable behaviour.”
With local authorities now having to bargain with the Government for flood buyouts, it smelled of “a major conflict of interest”, she said.
“It’s a heartfelt plea about our south side [of Waiho Flat] devaluing incredibly,” she said at the meeting.
Westland District Council chief executive Simon Bastion defended his council’s role.
The rating valuation process was run “completely independently”.
Waiho Flat farmer Graham Berry disagreed, saying the valuer told him they had been well informed by the council of the future of Waiho Flat.
“They got a heads-up: devalue the south side,” Berry said.
Fellow Waiho Flat landowner Kelley Molloy said their ability to get finance was impacted immediately after October.
“You took our capital values to zero. You put us in the position, we are never going to sell the land.”
Residents felt the new rating district only benefited the other side of the river, she said.
“The frustration for the south side is we didn’t get a goddamned cent of it … It creates a divide when people’s livelihoods are on the line.”
The council’s infrastructure resilience group programme manager Scott Hoare said the original funding agreement only released $12.5 million to the north side of the river.
However, chief executive Darryl Lew said the council was “close now” to getting the Government to release the original $8m allocated for the Waiho Flat side.
The meeting was the first in four years of the Franz Josef Joint Rating District, which was formed after a ratepayer poll following a regional council bid to get the Government to co-fund a $24m resilience scheme (75:25) to bolster flood protection.
Amalgamation of the north and south bank special rating districts in the area was a condition at the time.
Council officials acknowledged they had sketchy information after a high turnover of staff.
Council chairman Peter Haddock said the 2022-elected council had been trying to pick up the pieces. It had approached the previous Government to release the money and met the condition of presenting a strategy to manage the natural hazard.
“The previous Government pulled the money for the south side because they wanted a plan. It was well publicised there was going to be a buyout.”
The new Government was taking a different approach. “They don’t have any appetite to buy out anywhere in the country.” ■
LDR is local body journalism cofunded by RNZ and NZ On Air.