Horizons Regional Council is leaving landowners along the Ōroua and Pohangina rivers in the dark over potential major changes to flood management, Ian Strahan says.
“These are the same ratepayers stumping up half a million dollars a year in targeted river rates,” the Federated Farmers Manawatū-Rangitikei president says.
“They’re also the ones hit the hardest when the rivers flood.
“The council’s communication and engagement with them over proposed new ways to manage rivers has been totally inadequate and it really grinds my gears.
“We’ve got a regional council that’s good at consulting, but not so good at getting the views and inputs of the stakeholders that will have to live with the impacts of their decisions.”
Memories of high rainfall in February 2004 that caused widespread flood damage in Manawatū-Rangitikei and Whanganui live on strongly in many people’s minds, Strahan says.
For landowners next to the Ōroua and Pohangina, especially north of Feilding, Cyclone Gabrielle last year was even worse.
“A lot of rain hit the Ruahine ranges and surged down those rivers,” Strahan says.
“Bank protection, rock work, tied trees and other infrastructure in these rivers’ catchment schemes were smashed.”
The damage was put at $8 million, swamping the $630,000 built up in reserves.
Last year Horizons was given $300,000 from the Government to look at ‘nature-based solutions’ to things like flood management and aquatic wildlife mobility.
It’s well recognised that man-made solutions, such as river channel straightening, rock groynes and stopbanks, help contain rivers and protect property in smaller floods, but also degrade river ecology.
In large floods, these solutions can increase risk because the energy contained at high flow is released in powerful torrents if the banks break or are overtopped.
A governance group was formed last November to oversee the creation of “an holistic and sustainable” flood protection model for the Pohangina and Ōroua rivers, and the section of Manawatū river between them.
The group’s aims include prioritising the river’s room “to move to express her natural character”, restoring riparian margins, increasing channel size and capacity, and maintaining fish passage and habitat.
The catchment schemes for the Pohangina and Ōroua rivers were set up many years ago.
Their purpose was to protect people, property and infrastructure, and allow for the productive potential of land use to be realised.
Strahan says the objectives of the proposed new approach are a million miles away from the stated original purpose.
“It seems that with the council’s new direction being investigated, every community and interest is being catered for except landowners adjacent to the river, who are footing the lion’s share of the bills.
“Nature should not be prioritised at the expense of everything else – there needs to be a balance.”
Strahan agrees that, in the face of devastating floods, and predictions we’ll see more of them, alternative solutions deserve debate.
“I get it. Something needs doing and we may need to do it differently.
“We haven’t had a decent flood since Gabrielle along those rivers, and just as well. The next flood will severely impact the area.
“There’s high-quality farmland along there with zero protection. Flooded rivers will eat straight into that and take a lot of land, infrastructure and potentially buildings with it.”
Strahan says he elbowed his way onto the governance group out of concern about the way things were heading.
He also believed two existing farmer representatives on the group were not able to adequately relay what was happening to landowners.
“Horizons have the addresses to send out rates bills but not, apparently, to send updates on what’s going on – nor to hold meetings.”
He tried to get those addresses so he could do it himself, but this was refused.
At a farmer meeting where the topic came up, Strahan says landowners had excellent information to share about flood experiences and their thoughts on solutions.
“I don’t like to think how much money and resource is being swallowed up in administration and investigating side issues, which could be spent on actual works.
“Councils don’t seem able to do things efficiently, unlike the rest of the economy.
“But they go tearing off in a direction, with an agenda, and a governance group on which the people with the most skin in the game are poorly represented.”
Strahan intends inviting the council chair, and any councillors willing to come, to visit his farm and hear from farmers directly.
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
