Greymouth local government meeting
Thursday 9 November
Climate change
Education and information
- Practical, easily understood information that is relevant to the region is needed. The information needs to help people visualise the way things will be in future with climate change scenarios. This will allow people to take it on board.
- The Coast population is very pragmatic and to be successful, people need to be targeted at that level, not at a distanced academic level.
Adaptation and mitigation
- Current West Coast growth (both economic and population) is driven by coal. The benefits (economically and population-wise) of whatever government does to curb emissions need to be balanced for the coast.
- More emphasis is needed on clean coal technologies and geo-sequestration. Coasters do not see the bad effects of coal, so there is a lack of community concern about the issue.
- It has been a bad year for erosion on the West Coast. Despite this, development is proceeding in erosion prone areas.
- Hazard planning is not conducted at a regional level. It tends to be piecemeal and on a reactionary basis. There is a need for coordinated regional hazard planning.
- The possibility of utilising 100-metre ‘warning zones’ for hazards was discussed.
- There is a clear need for concrete data and guidance from central government e.g. in terms of projected changes to high tide levels and rainfall as a result of climate change.
- Concern was expressed that some large irrigated dairy farms in Canterbury were using the same amount of water on individual farms as the whole of Greymouth. According to climate change scenarios water is likely to become scarcer in the east. What are the implications of this for the West Coast? Will there be a demand for water from the Coast?
- There is a strong and urgent need for a regional meeting to address natural hazards, climate change and subdivision issues on the West Coast. There is interest in future climate change outreach workshops at a regional level – both for local government and the general public.
- A need for national guidelines was identified though these should not be too prescriptive. Some standardisation is required so that everyone gets treated on the same level.
- There are some substantial hazard risks to property on the West Coast. Certainty of investment needs to be managed in a long-term framework. These issues need to be addressed locally.
General interest
Urban development, design and planning
- There has been a huge growth in subdivisions on the West Coast recently.
- Many of these subdivisions are encroaching into vulnerable areas such as floodplains, sensitive catchments, and cliffs with fault lines. Despite this, some engineers are still certifying building in these places.
- Locations beside water and with views are very desirable at present – e.g. coastal areas, hillsides, lakesides.
- Councils are considering placing restrictions on seaside development.
- There is a feeling that official statistics do not accurately reflect the current demographics of the West Coast – there is substantial population growth happening.
- The population composition is changing rapidly. The population is better paid. An increasing number of holidaymakers from areas like Christchurch are buying property, leading to an ‘absentee’ population – they are not permanent residents. These people are generating refuse but are difficult to capture for consultation on issues such as recycling facilities and landfills.
- There is a major shortage in rental accommodation which is difficult to explain when subdivisions are on the increase and the population is said not to be increasing.
- House size is increasing.
- There is a need to balance social factors (such as having enough people to maintain the running of key community services –schools, doctors clinics etc) with population pressures.
- Awareness of the risks these issues present is high. There is a clear need for District Plans to adapt to these rapidly changing circumstances but it is currently impossible to keep up. This is due to both a lack of funding/resourcing regionally and the overly cumbersome process of updating District Plans.
- It is difficult to plan for existing communities. It is much easier planning for new communities.
- There are substantial pressures on landfills.
- There are issues surrounding septic tank usage.
- Tourism development is increasing. This does not generate new residents but adds to pressures on infrastructure.
Governance
- People emphasised that they do not want a ‘one size fits all’ approach from central government when addressing environmental issues on the West Coast.
- However, at times a national approach is necessary/helpful/appropriate, particularly with respect to enforcement of contentious issues, introduction of new regulations etc.
- Certain issues are best approached at a national level with the flexibility to apply at a local level. National Environmental Standards need to allow for regional circumstances e.g. stormwater standards. The situation is very different the West Coast in comparison with Auckland.
- The West Coast should not be viewed as a ‘compensation area’ for the rest of the country.
- The fact that only 13% of the land on the West Coast has ratepayers needs to be recognised. There is interest in exploring possibilities for some sort of government subsidy for the West Coast, given that ratepayer contributions are minimal.
General comments
- Councils have an obligation to preserve natural character but there are difficulties with this:
- Fundamentally - there is no agreed definition of what constitutes ‘natural character’. Common terms such as this in the RMA are still undefined.
- How do we quantify natural character?
- How do we enhance and preserve natural character?
- There is a need to look at cumulative effects and setting of precedents when considering natural character
- There is frequently tension between DOC and local government. Much of this arises out of conflicting responsibilities under the Conservation Act (DOC) and the RMA (local government). These two pieces of legislation are opposed in many circumstances. In particular, DOC’s conservation advocacy role is resulting in substantial hold-up of council works. These conflicts are becoming resource intensive to manage – in terms of both time and money. There is a belief that DOC does not exert the same influence in other parts of New Zealand as they do on the West Coast, where they have a huge influence.
- The Water Programme of Action is running very well. The discussion session in Christchurch was useful.
- The national policy statement (NPS) work gave regions a chance to identify issues and opportunities, and was a good information sharing exercise. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences faced by other regions.
- There is a feeling that Regional Councils were keeping up but that Territorial Authorities are drowning in new government regulations (bylaws, consents etc). Resourcing is insufficient and the District Plan process is overly cumbersome.
- Value judgements are going to be increasingly called upon in future planning.
- It is felt that local government ended up not having a say in recent waste management work.
- Practical advice is needed to take account of climate change in decision making,
- Subdivision in the area is a minimum of 1 hectare. This leads to clustered development, so a plan change has been initiated.
- Guidance is needed from central government on how to handle coastal erosion, including assistance and guidance on protecting the land, managed retreat, and the compensation issue.
- The region is dealing with immediate issues that could set precedents with regard to coastal management. Help is urgently needed.
- The general community is grossly unaware and lacking understanding. There is a lot of resistance from both politicians and developers. People are resistant to change
- National standards on planning time frames would be really useful as well as some backing on what is and is not appropriate. Some councils use a 100 year planning timeframe, but then get played off against councils that use different timeframes.
- Best Practice Guidelines would be extremely useful.
Last updated: 27 February 2008
