West Coast council considers Auditor-General’s climate change recommendations

photo: LDR / Supply

West Coast Regional Council will further address the impacts of climate change on its flood protection assets as it develops its long-term plan.

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) recommended in April that councils better reflect climate change in the way they manage conservation assets, as set out in its Long Term Plan (LTP) consultation document.

The matter was debated this week when Parliament considered submissions on the plan.

The draft states that climate change could increase flood risks in the region due to rising sea levels – storm events will become more frequent and more severe, and “larger peaks” in rainfall will put additional pressure on rivers.

New Zealand is also entering a ‘positive’ Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) cycle, which has historically led to higher river levels on the west coast, as experienced in the 1980s and 1990s.

Meanwhile, the region’s retreating snowline and melting in alpine areas are thought to have increased the “mobility of gravel” in river systems, as seen in the Waiau River in Franz Josef and the Harihari River in Whanganui.

The draft states that these impacts will have an impact on the operation and maintenance of the region’s flood protection scheme – some special rating areas may “not be able to afford current service levels”.

This could create “potential challenges” for future decisions in some flood control zones, namely whether to keep or abandon floodwalls.

Of the 25 submissions received by the Council on the LTP, only three specifically commented on climate change.

Susan Thorpe referred to the “climate change hoax” and called for all climate policies to be removed from council documents, saying they were based on “climate porn”.

Another submitter, Merryn Bayliss, said parliament should not be “unquestioningly subject to executing the central government’s agenda” because it would lead to wasteful spending to meet dubious targets based on “false beliefs” about climate change.

Resource Management Committee chairman Brett Cummings said he enjoyed Thorpe’s speech, while councillor Andy Campbell said parliament needed to be “open-minded”.

However, chairman Peter Haddock suggested the council should work “on the basis of the best consistent information available”.

But the committee decided to wait for staff advice to make a formal recommendation to address climate change issues in the auditor general’s office.

The council’s acting corporate services manager Aaron Prendergast reminded councillors that the “negative observations” from the auditor-general’s office must be addressed.

“The Attorney General’s Office believes that this city council is not on the same level as city councils across the country,” he said on May 21.

As a result, the council could find itself at a disadvantage when it seeks new co-investment funding from government to bolster the region’s natural disaster recovery plans, Prendergast said.

West Coast Regional Council chief executive Darryl Lew said there was a need to “get ahead of the curve” when it came to assessing the impacts of climate change on conservation assets.
photo: Greymouth Star/Brandon McMahon/

Chief executive Darryl Lew said official concerns about the climate resilience of conservation assets at local councils across the country had increased significantly over the past year.

Lu said the attorney general’s office is saying “we have to understand our current level of service.”

At the same time, Mr Lew said councils needed to be “ahead of the times” and understand the impacts of climate change on the level of service they provide to their conservation assets.

A report on the subject will be presented at the next meeting of the Council on 4 June, while the LTP will be adopted on 25 June.

– LDR is a local news organisation jointly funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.