Proposed new floodplain management plan out for feedback

Draft documents of the Te Kāuru Upper Ruamāhanga Floodplain Management Plan are now out for public feedback. Residents of the Upper Ruamāhanga catchment will receive information on the proposals in the coming weeks and will have the chance to discuss the plan in the first week of September over a cup of coffee at drop in centres.

Feedback on the plan is being eagerly sought by Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Te Kāuru Upper Ruamāhanga Flood Plain Management Subcommittee, which will consider the community’s views on how best to manage flood and erosion risks and protect and enhance the natural and cultural values of the Te Kāuru catchment.
Full information including when and where drop in centres will be held is available online at www.TeKauru.co.nz, which includes a feedback form for comment. People will also be able to express their views by emailing the Te Kāuru project team at TeKāuru@gw.govt.nz.

“Flooding is an ever-present threat in the Te Kāuru catchment and we want the community’s input into how we can address it. The draft plan is a starting point. It’s now up to the people of the catchment to make their views known, and we’re making it as easy as possible for them to do so,” says committee chair Bob Francis.

The new draft plan proposes a broad approach to managing flood and erosion risks, protecting and enhancing natural and cultural values while recognising the significance of the catchment’s rivers to affected land owners and the broader community.

Endorsed by Greater Wellington’s Environment Committee on Thursday 21 June, it covers proposed management of flooding and erosion on the Upper Ruamāhanga River upstream of the Waiohine confluence, and its tributaries the Waipoua, Waingawa, Taueru, Whangaehu and Kopuaranga rivers.

Under the draft plan landowners will benefit from more certainty and protection outside the buffers, but land within the buffers may be subject to erosion due to the greater opportunity rivers will be given to meander and behave more naturally.

“The wider community also wants healthy rivers with more natural character, our proposals will hopefully achieve both goals while still acknowledging and protecting the assets and livelihoods on the floodplain,” says Mr Francis.

There are two types of rivers that make up the Te Kāuru catchment. Those on the Tararua side of the valley are larger, gravel-bedded rivers. On the eastern side the rivers are smaller, silt-bedded and drain from the eastern hills. Different flood protection and erosion management responses and projects have been developed.

The broader benefits of this approach will have implications for funding river management operational work. Currently, landowners within flood protection schemes fund a large proportion of scheme costs. However, to reflect the wider benefit of the draft plan’s approach it is proposed that landowner contributions will be spread across the wider community encompassing, for example, all ratepayers in Carterton and Masterton District councils.

Changes are also proposed for flood management governance in the Te Kāuru catchment. While the current structure of eight river management scheme committees would continue to deal with the river-specific issues, it is proposed a new advisory committee with representation from district councils, Greater Wellington, Iwi and the river schemes will be established to consider the issues related to the whole upper catchment. It would report to the Greater Wellington Wairarapa Committee instead of Greater Wellington’s Environment Committee, providing for greater local influence.

Plans and proposals for the Masterton’s Waipoua River urban area are still under development, and public engagement on them will follow once they are completed.

ENDS

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