In a ‘normal’ year, the HB Regional Council would have an operating budget of not quite $100 million, with around 350 staff to do their customary jobs of protecting our environment, biodiversity and biosecurity.
Recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle has added another $242 million of work to their job, in the planning and implementation of the North Island Weather Events (NIWE) Flood Resilience Programme.
Here’s what that additional work entails:
If you reside or have a business in of one of the ‘Severely Affected Land Areas’ listed above, that is probably the work that matters most to you. And you don’t just want the protection work done, you want to have your say about it, which, frankly, doesn’t necessarily make the planning job any easier … and certainly not faster.
If you are more generally apprehensive about your future severe weather safety, it might be progress on the various flood protection ‘scheme reviews’ that is most important.
The two reviews with greatest population and economic impact – Heretaunga (for Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri Rivers) and Upper Tukituki – are completed from an initial technical options standpoint, as will be reported to Councillors on 18 December, but will then require significant public engagement before final decisions are made. Flood protection for Wairoa is following a separate path, overseen by Crown Manager Lawrence Yule, but with the same process of experts serving up recommended technical solutions that require landowner and broader community buy-in.
Simply organising to procure the massive technical and construction services required on the most prudent, cost-effective and staged basis — and then oversee it all — lifts demand on the in-house team to another level.
And if you’re getting $200 million from the Crown, the reporting processes required to ensure financial accountability and confirm satisfactory progress against milestones adds still more demand on the organisation.
HBRC has brought on Andrew Caseley as Recovery Director to provide senior level cross-council oversight to all these moving parts. Caseley served as CEO of the Regional Council for 13 years, managing director of global engineering and environmental consultancy MWH’s NZ business, and until early this year was Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority. We might see his name popping up more regularly.
Given all this, the amount of activity underway is impressive. And it seems adequately transparent, with much more public engagement to come on policy options, costs and physical works.
If you want to get a full sense of the scope of activity, this staff paper provides a substantial briefing on HBRC’s resilience work planned and underway, including issues to be resolved.
