Chair appointed for Westport 2100 Working Group
Chris Coll has been appointed as Chair of the Westport 2100 Working Group.
A well-known Westport resident and business owner, Mr Coll brings a wealth of experience from his professional career as well as being involved in the Marrs and Shingle Beach Community Group.
“I’m looking forward to the challenges facing this Group as we look to the future of Westport”, said Mr Coll. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work and no doubt some tough decisions for us as a community to make, but I believe it will all pay off in the long run.”
The second Westport 2100 Group meeting, held on 7 May, focused on the cause and effect of the river flooding hazard and its surrounding science.
The Working Group were provided presentations from Regional Council engineering and hydrology staff on the concept of cumulative probability (likelihood of an event occurring), how the flood telemetry and modelling works on the Buller River and an update on the tools and advice being produced through the assistance of an EnviroLink grant.
Matt Gardner, from Land Sea River Consulting, who has undertaken extensive modelling on the Buller River, took the Group through the work that has been completed to date and the various models used to predict the potential scope of flooding.
Mr Coll said that there was a lot of work ahead of the group.
“The Buller River is just one part of the complex hazardscape Westport has to deal with. It has been a long time since we have seen a major flood in the River and it’s a real eye-opener as to what could potentially occur, but we need to remember that we are looking at the whole hazardscape.”
“We have also had reports of more vandalism of the telemetry sites in the Buller District. This is appalling behavior and puts our communities at risk when we head into big rain events. This gear is of little use or value to anyone apart from the job it has been set up to do.”
The Working Group is looking to accelerate its meeting schedule in order to review the hazardscape and capture the big picture in a shorter timeframe to then feed in to the recommendations for the future.
The Regional Council is hosting a webpage to provide information and regular updates to keep the community informed on the progress of the Working Group. This information can be found at www.wcrc.govt.nz/westport2100.
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Media contact
Chris Coll | Chair – Westport 2100 Working Group | 027 431 1002
Nichola Costley | Manager Strategy and Communications | West Coast Regional Council | 021 168 6987
Background
The purpose of the working group is to engage with the Westport community and work together, with the Councils, to identify a pathway forward for the town for the benefit of future generations. It will consider how to manage natural hazards and what the town needs to do as it looks towards the future. This project has a long term focus and will result in recommendations to both the Buller District Council and West Coast Regional Council for future work programmes for civil defence, hydrology and operations.
The Westport 2100 Working Group Members are:
| Chris Coll (Chair)
| Community Member
|
| Clr Neal Clementson
| West Coast Regional Council
|
| Clr Sharon Roche
| Buller District Council
|
| Clr Shayne Barry
| Buller District Council
|
| Phil Wheble
| West Coast District Health Board
|
| Ned Tauwhare
| Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae
|
| Colin Hey
| New Zealand Transport Agency
|
| Mark Stephens
| Community Member
|
| Grant Weston
| Community Member
|
| Jodi Murray
| Community Member
|
| Dan Moloney
| Community Member
|
| Simone Hoodhills
| Community Member
|
