A crucial part of Westport’s $25 million flood protection plan is on hold because the Department of Conservation (DOC) is "overworked", West Coast Regional Councillors have heard.

At Tuesday’s, West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) meeting (16 September) of the council’s operations committee, Buller councillor Chris Coll raised the issue of Organs Island where the Buller River in flood overflows into the Orowaiti River.

The land is held by Land Information NZ (LINZ) but must be to be transferred to the Conservation Department, before it can be vested in the Regional Council for flood protection purposes.

As a leader in Westport’s flood protection planning, Cr Coll told councillors he wrote to the Minister of Land Information in 2022 about the ownership of Organs Island.

“The concern I had was there was a ten-year lease on it and LINZ just rolls them over. It was due for renewal and I thought it would be complicated if it was just renewed again and we needed to do work on it,” the Westport surveyor said.

As part of the Resilient Westport project, the intention is to plant the land and build it up, making it a more effective buffer in times of flood. But three years on, the land had still not been transferred, Cr Coll said.

Earlier this year, the expectation was that it would by now have been resurveyed, re-gazetted and approved, he said.

“We’re talking six months now and still - nothing.”

The council’s river engineers had emphasised the importance of Organs Island because any spillover from the Buller into the Orowaiti had a huge impact on town, Cr Coll said. Buller Cr Mark McIntyre agreed.

“All this flood scheme that we’re spending Government money and ratepayers’ money and private money on, starts at Organs Island.

"That’s where all the water comes from to Westport.

"It’s essential the land tenure gets sorted.”

Council chief executive Darryl Lew said Organs Island had been a critical component of the Westport flood protection project when the Government granted $15 million towards it.

The ball was now in DOC’s court and he had taken the matter up with DOC’s regional director, Mr Lew said.

“It's now getting on to two years where there’s been no action and they’re saying they’re overworked and can’t do it.”

The issue was now critical, frustration was growing and he had “escalated” his dealings with DOC officials, Mr Lew said.

“Now they’re saying they want to develop some sort of business improvement project between LINZ and DOC on these matters.

“I’ve said 'Look, do what you need to do but please give us a date when this can be given effect to because we need to move on it'.”

He had also asked to see the Organs Island transfer proposals before they were enacted, to make sure the terms and conditions would allow the council to do what it needed to do on the land for flood protection.

The land had been leased by LINZ and cleared for farming and it was likely some temporary barriers would be needed while the trees grew and sediment built up, Mr Lew said.

WCRC chair Peter Haddock moved the council write to the Minister of Conservation and DOC’s chief executive.

“It’s really unacceptable that it’s taken this long. It’s a pretty simple land transfer; it comes up every time at Resilient Westport meetings. Give them till the end of the month then send the letter,” Mr Haddock said.

The motion had unanimous support. LDR has asked LINZ and DOC to comment. Cr Peter Ewen, who chairs the West Coast Regional Transport committee, said the delay highlighted a wider concern with Government departments.

“We have an issue with TranzRail, issues with NZTA, same thing."

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air

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