South Dunedin Action Group seeks urgent meeting with Council

The South Dunedin Action Group today calls on the Dunedin City Council to meet and determine the immediate actions needed to ensure the community’s infrastructure is maintained and is to a standard to protect the community against a flood event such as last June.

Having considered the Infrastructure report on the June floods released this week we are very disappointed that it focuses only on mudtanks, not the entire system reticulation and pipeline, or the Musselburgh pumping station.

We have advice that the stormwater system did not perform to its designed capacity and that the methodology used by the Council to prepare this report is flawed.

It is our view that the extent of the flooding would not have occurred if the system had been operating to its designed capacity.

We note there are no engineering or other practical initiatives to take the community forward.

We would like to focus on an immediate practical action plan for the wider South Dunedin community that addresses the operation of council infrastructure. This must occur before any longer term issues in South Dunedin are addressed.

We are concerned that the infrastructure issues have implications beyond South Dunedin and must be addressed immediately.

We are concerned that there are retailers and residents who are continuing to suffer financially and emotionally due to the distress suffered during the floods and the subsequent uncertainty about South Dunedin’s future.

We will work with the DCC in good faith but we need the Council to acknowledge our concerns and our expertise to reassure this community that South Dunedin is a vital part of Dunedin with a future.

Our focus is on the future and not on affixing blame to individuals and we will work constructively with council to fix these problems.

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