Cost-sharing deals a better precedent . . .

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

After the Christchurch earthquakes, the Crown acquired and demolished or removed more than 8000 properties then returned the land to Christchurch City Council. That was a precedent which New Zealand could not afford to follow, especially because it would remove the need for precautionary behaviour if property owners and councils knew the taxpayer would ride to the rescue.

The 50/50 cost-sharing deals on the table for several councils and the Crown to buy out Category 3 homes after severe weather events this year is much more like a precedent the country can work with as we move towards an agreed approach to “managed retreat”.

However, consultation information provided for the public to consider the cost-sharing deal for this region says:

“The Severe Weather Emergency Response Legislation Act and Future of Severely Affected Land package is bespoke to the weather events in early 2023 and does not establish a long-term approach or precedent for Council to pay for managed retreat. Government is considering how managed retreat can be best managed through the National Adaptation Plan and Climate Change Adaptation Act.”

Last month the Ministry for the Environment published the Report of the Expert Working Group on Managed Retreat, which dealt with the practical, legal and financial aspects of enabling managed retreat in an equitable and enduring way.

Principles discussed include design solutions being “as simple as possible”; the need for “certainty, at least to the extent possible while preserving flexibility”; and a guiding objective being “to reduce hardship due to the impacts of climate change”. The report recommends against compensation for holiday homes which aren’t principle places of residence, but assistance for demolition, removal and clean-up costs. It recommends assistance for rental and commercial properties on a sliding scale for which there is some scope for means testing.

If public feedback on consultation now under way allows the council to accept the Government’s $204m cyclone recovery package for this district on November 1, as expected, the council can then start negotiating buyout offers with the owners of 47 properties deemed Category 3.

The council points out that systems and processes need to be developed to administer applications through to settlement, and that previous similar purchase schemes for Christchurch and Kaikoura show “these processes can take several years to finally settle, noting the time frames depend on the negotiations between the landowner, insurers and council”.

The cost to the council won’t be known until all the settlements are finalised, but is estimated at $15m.