Working together with an eye on resilience …
More than 18 months down the track, the journey to recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle goes on for Hawke’s Bay – a reality that will continue for years to come.
Much has been achieved over this period to set the region on a path forward. Positive progress has been made to support affected property owners and the wider local economy, to progress flood resilience projects and to sustain momentum in the rebuilding of badly damaged infrastructure.
Various tranches of initial Government support have been committed to facilitate the region’s recovery, with the most significant to date being via the North Island Weather Event (NIWE) Hawke’s Bay Crown Funding Agreement targeted at Category 3 voluntary buyouts, flood protection and local road transport rebuilds. There has been significant other recovery funding allocated into a range of activities over the past 14 months (e.g., silt and debris removal, primary producer support, State Highway repairs), with a further $91 million for local roads signalled in 2024/25.
The last month has seen further key milestones reached, including what appears to be some positive news for Hawke’s Bay in the 2024 Government Budget as well as the completion and imminent release of Recovery Plan 2.0.
Budget 2024 – what’s in it for Hawke’s Bay
In recognising the current economic climate and the fiscal constraints of Government, the recent Budget announcement includes positive news for the region’s recovery. With funding provided towards the region’s 2024/25 local roading recovery programme, a process has been set out for Hawke’s Bay to cost and submit funding requests for future years’ work. This is being taken as a positive indicator that Central Government understands the work needed to restore the region’s local roading network in full will extend well beyond one year, with further support required.
Whilst there is concern round the initial lack of funding for work to improve resilience of our State Highways, we recognise that recovery work is not a one year effort. As a region, we will continue to advocate strongly for rebuild projects on our State Highways to be funded as a priority in New Zealand Transport Agency’s State Highway Investment programme. There is no question that for many in our region, state highways are their ‘local roads’ and play a critical role in both the social and the economic welfare of Hawke’s Bay.
It was heartening to see an appropriation in the Budget targeting funding to speed up support for Category 3 land in the Whenua Māori/Kaupapa Māori pathway. This pathway and associated support was supposed to proceed in parallel with the Voluntary Buyout programme for general land but had fallen behind. Whilst negotiation and valuation processes still need to be worked through, we remain hopeful the funding provided will bring Māori landowners back to parity with the wider affected landowner group.
Other immediate wins in the Budget for Hawke’s Bay include additional funding for silt and debris removal, provision for ongoing Temporary Accommodation Service support and a contestable $20m set aside to help speed up delivery of existing and already funded recovery projects.
Recovery Plan 2.0
Developed by the RRA, on behalf of Councils, Post Settlement Government Entities (PSGEs) and Matariki, Recovery Plan 2.0 (Plan 2.0) looks to the medium and long-term recovery priorities. The Plan outlines a longer-term framework to deliver greater resilience, prosperity and equity across the region, with a focus on infrastructure, economic and community systems.
Having a vision is one thing, but delivering on this is where the value is realised. With this in mind, whilst recognising the progress already made and the work currently in motion, Plan 2.0 sets out the regional recovery goals for the future and programmes required to deliver on these. It has been designed to facilitate ongoing advocacy work with Government and other partners, so the region can enlist support where needed.
Lastly, certain elements of the plan extend beyond the scope of pure ‘recovery’ and this is intentional. We are seeking a more resilient and successful region as we recover from Cyclone Gabrielle. The drivers for recovery, resilience and regional success are highly inter-connected, and there is a unique opportunity for the region to unite and work together to upgrade productivity, equity and overall outlook for the future.
Plan 2.0 will be available on the RRA website early to mid-July.
An eye on resilience
Resilience is a word we hear frequently in the context of our recovery journey, but what does that mean? In the context of rebuilding damaged infrastructure, it is about ensuring we don’t narrow our sights to just putting things back the way they were. Such an approach would mean we were no further ahead if and when future severe weather events strike.
One of our mantras of the RRA is “if it happens again, we need our infrastructure and systems to cope better.” At every step of recovery we need to be asking ourselves, could we do things differently? Are we making the most of this opportunity to build back better and smarter?
Of course we know there are factors at play we need to balance here: Do resilience improvements significantly slow the pace of getting back up and running? Are the costs of resilience improvements palatable in the currently constrained fiscal environment? Have we got the knowledge to determine what ‘resilience’ looks like in the face of a constantly evolving hazard landscape? In some areas of recovery, we are waiting on independent reviews to help us understand what we can reasonably expect in terms of impacts from future weather events and therefore what the region’s infrastructure needs are to better cope with these impacts. These are complex matters that demand our attention.
It is pleasing to see the Regional Infrastructure Fund coming to fruition in the Budget. We hope this will enable broader notions of resilience to be considered in developing the nation’s infrastructure. For Hawke’s Bay, this could come in the form of a much-needed investment into our water security or further upgrades to flood protection. Water security in particular represents a pivotal issue in the region’s prosperity and community/whānau and environmental health as we look to the decades ahead.
A unified region
Throughout the response and recovery to date, working together has been a key contributor to the region’s success in securing Government support. Whilst the struggles associated with ongoing personal recovery and increasing bills are still a daily reality for many people and communities, the region’s longer-term recovery actions are getting positive traction. Councils and PSGEs, working with business and the community sector, have joined together to coordinate these efforts and provide a united voice for Hawke’s Bay, particularly in dealing with Government. We have heard from the Prime Minister that he wants to work with joined up regions, not individual district councils, and that he holds Hawke’s Bay up as an example.
The journey to full recovery is long and there is no quick fix. With that said, the last 18 months has seen a newfound level of regional collaboration, driven by the common goal of building back what was lost and supporting communities to recover. If we can continue to harness this way of working together, the future potential for Hawke’s Bay is an exciting prospect.
The HB Regional Recovery Agency is charged with coordinating a recovery that is locally-led, regionally coordinated and government supported. Blaire O’Keeffe is HBRRA Chair.
www.hbrecovery.nz