Potential compensation for Motueka River stopbank maintenance

Landowners with properties adjacent to the Motueka River may soon find themselves able to claim compensation for the maintenance of any public stopbanks on their land. Photo / Frank Exchange

Landowners that have sections of Motueka’s stopbanks on their properties could soon find themselves being financially compensated for keeping them well-managed.

Tasman District Council approved its river stopbank recompense policy for consultation on Thursday.

The policy aims to provide some compensation for landowners who undertake best practice on the stopbanks that run through their land, such as not grazing heavy stock on the stopbank.

The stopbanks themselves will continue to be maintained by the council.

Jenna Neame, council’s kaihautū (manager of Māori relationships), said “The stopbanks are a very big asset for Motueka. What we are trying to encourage is the right behaviour in the interests of the community”.

Motueka is the only place in the district where public stopbanks are located on private land.

“For a whole range of reasons at the time, the stopbanks were built on the landowners’ land with their permission, but the land either under it or inside it was never transferred,” Mayor Tim King said.

“This was never intended to be a full compensation for the fact they’re there, it’s a recognition that there is a public asset sitting on private land.”

Under the current proposal, individual properties could receive anywhere between $100 to $1500 a year at $500 per hectare.

The total cost of the measure is expected to be no more than $20,000 per year, which council staff described as “negligible” given the potential risk mitigation associated with best practice stopbank maintenance and usage.

While there was buy-in for the proposal around the council table, councillor Brent Maru wondered if enough was being offered to landowners.

“Is that carrot big enough to incentivise?” he asked.

“I can’t imagine any landowner filling in a form for $100.”

Neame said that question was part of the “balancing act” for council in weighing costs and benefits.

“This is the value of consultation with those landowners. When we go through this process, we’ll get feedback and they’re likely to say if they’re interested or not.”

It would be up to council to consider how to implement the feedback given by landowners - if it is implemented at all.

Councillor Barry Dowler also wondered how fair it would be for landowners to receive financial compensation if it was a lessee who was managing the stopbank.

However, Neame replied that those occurrences related solely to private agreements between landowners and their lessees.

“It’s not council’s place.”

The policy is expected to be implemented on July 1, 2024.

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