Horizons Regional Council to press on with North Mole rock wall despite residents’ pushback

Tregenna St residents had an “overwhelming preference” for deployable flood protection instead of a wall. Photo / Bevan Conley

A planned 4.1-metre rock wall along Whanganui’s North Mole is drawing the ire of residents across the road in Tregenna St.

They claim it is unnecessary and will block their views of the Whanganui River, but Horizons Regional Council, which is undertaking the project as part of Te Pūwaha (the Whanganui Port redevelopment), says the work must be completed to provide residents with the best level of flood protection possible.

The council announced the plan this week and met with residents on Tuesday, April 4 to discuss it.

Tregenna St resident Marie McKay said residents only found out a “huge rock wall” was going to obliterate their views of the Whanganui awa when construction got under way last November.

“Many had attended community meetings convened by Horizons, but there had been no mention that the wall would affect their views, so this was a shock,” she said.

“The residents expressed their deep concerns to Horizons about the validity of building the structure at that height, at that location, given that there is no history of flooding and all of the publicly available reports published by Horizons confirm this to be the case.”

She said documents provided for resource consent did not mention any loss of visual amenity to residents and how that could be mitigated.

“We were not considered as part of this process.”

A six-page submission from McKay on behalf of the residents was made to Horizons on February 3, which confirmed their support for the Te Pūwaha project but raised concerns about the North Mole repairs.

Horizons presented three wall options to residents on February 13 this year - leave a 20 to 30-metre low section at the site for temporary deployable flood protection; build the wall 0.37 metres lower than planned (which would not account for freeboard) and raise adjacent land; or build it at the proposed height and raise adjacent land.

All three would provide 100-year flood and 50-year sea rise protection.

The residents’ statement, made on February 19, said there was an “overwhelming preference” for an option of deployable flood protection.

Whanganui-based Horizons councillor Alan Taylor said he attended the public meeting at Tregenna St on Tuesday.

Alan Taylor says there is a difference between a consultation and an end result. Photo / Bevan Conley

The final decision on the wall was made at a council meeting on March 28.

“I think we have now had four meetings on-site with residents where they expressed their concerns - what they did want and what they didn’t want,” he said.

“They did present two documents - a signed petition (February 19) and a statement of their positions (February 3) - which, for some reason, and we don’t understand why, were not included in our papers when we made the final decision.

“Residents did wish to present them orally and didn’t get an opportunity to do that. Again, we don’t know why that happened. It’s clearly a slip-up and we apologise.”

However, nothing in the additional documents would have changed councillors’ minds and the points in them had already been considered, Taylor said.

McKay said Horizons had apologised on Monday for not considering the documents, but that didn’t restore the visual amenity residents were entitled to retain under the Resource Management Act.

“Our concerns about the process are valid,” she said.

“We have tried to engage with Horizons in good faith, and often at short notice, as arbitrary processes have been put in front of us. Horizons has also ignored our assertion that the resource consent process was faulty.

“We are not happy with the decision made last week [March 28] and we are deeply disappointed and disheartened by our experience.”

Taylor said residents were listened to and Horizons considered what they had to say.

In the end, some residents wanted a removable flood wall and others wanted the full flood protection on offer, he said.

“I’ll take it on the chin for being the person that first spoke on the issue at Horizons, and my principal point was that, in the light of Cyclone Gabrielle, I felt we were obliged to give them the greatest level of flood protection we could afford.

“That’s what we went for.

“We know we’ve traded off some of their amenity view against that but, again, my position was that having seen what happened in Hawke’s Bay and even in the Pohangina Valley on our side of the ranges, we don’t want that kind of thing happening on Tregenna St.”

The council’s catchment operations group manager, Dr Jon Roygard, said the rock wall already placed between Tregenna St and the port was at a four-metre level, so the remaining works would be a continuation of that through to the downstream fishing platform.

Horizons' council catchment operations group manager, Dr Jon Roygard.

“The four metres referred to is a reduced level in terms of Moturiki vertical datum – a standardised surveying measurement.

“Most importantly, this means that the embankment which will provide flood protection and an enhanced recreational space will be built up by 0.3 to 1.2 metres from the current ground level on the landward side of the rock wall, at a length of approximately 120 metres.”

Tregenna St resident Helena Allen said if she and her husband had known the wall would be built, they wouldn’t have bought their house.

“We’ve bought the worst house on the street, but it’s got great views and we’ve spent a lot of money on renovations,” Allen said.

“I guess we’ll have to make the most of that view while we can. We are thinking of building the deck a little bit higher, but then we have to go and get council consent.”

Allen said she was not sure how the rock wall would stop floodwater from getting into the street.

“We all know the force of Mother Nature, and if it’s going to come over, it’s going to come over.

“I get that flood protection is important. I just think that their [Horizons’] process has been crap.

“They are always going on about this [Te Pūwaha] being community-led and inclusive, and they’ve done that in terms of holding meetings, but then they’ve just gone and made their own decision anyway.”

Taylor said there was a difference between a consultation and an end result.

Every individual concern couldn’t be satisfied by the final decision.

“Although a number of people wanted the manually operated floodgates, we were very much against that option,” he said.

“That’s because of human error and the inability to get people there to operate it when a flood is coming in, and [then] you’re in an emergency situation.

“Resources are really thin. If Anzac Parade is flooding, as it would, then Tregenna St might be left until last. The risks were just too great.”

The North Mole is 75 per cent completed, but parts of the rock wall are still under construction, including the two fishing platforms and stormwater outfalls.

Horizons plans to add a recreational area for families, with a cycleway and picnic tables between the platforms.