Westport Special Rating District
Westport Flood Protection Scheme
Following consultation on the Long-term Plan 2021-31, Councillors agreed to progress with a $10.2million flood protection project for Westport.
The Buller District Council and West Coast Regional Council have formed the Westport Rating District Joint Committee to review technical advice and make recommendations to the Regional Council on the best options for protection. Hugh McMillan was appointed the independent Chair. Other members of the Joint Committee include:
- Clr Allan Birchfield, Clr Laura Coll McLaughlin and Clr John Hill – West Coast Regional Council
- Mayor Jamie Cleine, Clr Jo Howard, Clr Phil Rutherford – Buller District Council
- Francois Tumahai – Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae
- James Caygill – Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency
- Jodi Murray and Dan Moloney – Community representatives.
The inaugural meeting took of the Joint Committee took place on 3 March 2022, (click here for the livestream): https://fb.watch/bB5JhMuxdz/ and future meetings will be live streamed on the Regional Council Facebook page.
Agendas and Meeting Papers will be made publicly available on the Regional Council website prior to each Joint Committee meeting. Recommendations from the Joint Committee will be presented to the following Regional Council.
A copy of the Westport Rating District Joint Committee Agreement can be downloaded here.
Technical Advisory Group
The Technical Advisory Group reviews the data and modelling of the Buller River, Orowaiti and other nearby waterbodies to make informed recommendations regarding flood protection options to the Westport Joint Committee. Made up of external experts including Chris Coll, Matt Gardner, Gary Williams and John Ellis, as well as engineers from both the Regional Council and Buller District Council.
Buller Recovery Steering Group
The Buller Recovery Steering Group are looking at an integrated package of long-term flood resilience measures that both the Buller District Council and Regional Council can undertake. The Steering Group will be making an application to central government for possible funding through a co-investment approach in June 2022. The Steering Group comprises members from Department of Internal Affairs, National Emergency Management Agency, West Coast Regional Council, Buller District Council, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae and chaired independently by Richard Kempthorne.
