RIP Kingi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero
Kingi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero died recently.
As an Irish Catholic with somewhat Socialist tendencies I have always been lukewarm about the Kingitanga movement.
But this year the leadership he displayed, during difficult times was extraordinary and really impressed me.
He managed to unite Maori and provide important leadership at a challenging time.
His style of leadership was also important. He was courteous, thoughtful and contested ideas rather than personalities. He was also very determined and left no one wondering what he thought about important topics.
Moe mai rā, te Kingi, Moe mai rā.
Category three buy-out process
The process is reaching an important milestone.
People wanting to register for the programme have to do so by September 30.
Participation is voluntary. If Council determines that an insured residential property is a property for which there is an intolerable risk to residents from land stability or flooding then Council will offer 95% of the property’s valuation as at January 26, 2023.
Allowances will be made for insurance payouts and EQC payments. The desire is that people will be given a way out of their predicament and allowed with some dignity to get on with their lives.
For those property owners where remedial work is feasible and will address the risk there is a separate programme whereby a Council grant of up to a quarter of the property’s value is available.
It is clear there are some anomalies. One is where a property was recently purchased during the height of the market and has a large mortgage. A dip in the property’s value and the 5% allowance can eat significantly into a new homeowner’s equity.
Another is the treatment of slips on road reserves which threaten private properties. The home owner’s insurance company will not pay out as the property itself has not suffered any damage. Similarly EQC will not pay out. But the slip can pose a direct threat to a property and prevent reasonable access to the property.
I was acutely aware of this problem early on when I walked around the streets of Titirangi to see the problem first hand. I can recall meeting one particularly distressed resident whose access to her home had been decimated by a slip.
19 months later and her home remains the same.
I can recall asking Auckland Transport about it and they said that these issues would be treated on a case by case basis and that landowners would be involved.
Following a request by the Titirangi Stickered Group Council officers have advised that the situation is complex. The buy out scheme is designed to buy properties where there is an intolerable risk to life, not for this particular situation.
An application was made to the Cyclone Recovery Capability Fund for $5.2 million for funding for road reserve repairs but the funding application was declined. A similar application to the Auckland Transport Landslip Remediation Programme was also declined on the basis it was out of scope of the funding criteria.
There was a further application by AT to Crown Infrastructure Partners to fund a grant scheme for residents seeking to repair private assets in the road corridor but this was also declined.
This distinction to me is an anomaly and one that needs to be addressed. The scheme generally is to help our neighbours move on from a traumatic and dramatic event and get on with their lives. But there are some who because of an administrative distinction are prevented from doing so.
I believe that we need to add our support to the Stickered Titirangi Area Residents in their efforts to get this changed.
Consultation on Shoreline Adaption Plan
Council has been consulting on the draft Manukau North Shoreline Adaption Plan and the draft Whatipu to South Head Shoreline Adaption Plan.
The intent is to let locals have input into the designing of plans to deal with Council facilities threatened in the future by rising sea levels.
I think it is fair to say that discussions about the shoreline adaption plan have morphed into something much bigger that what was originally intended.
By definition, the plans deal with Council assets only. However the discussions about the plans have suggested that local communities wish to talk about the future and how we adapt to the effects of climate change.
A recent Piha News posed these questions which are a good summary of the questions that are being asked.
1. Could your property value be affected?
2. Will this affect LIM’s and and your ability to insure your home?
3. The Plan ONLY addresses Council assets and does not consider Surf Clubs or other community Assets such as the Gallery, Library, Bowling Club, Post Office, Tennis Club, etc.
4. No consideration is given to roads and bridges that could cut off access to much of Piha.
5. There is no consideration given to land instability created by sea-level rise or a higher risk of flooding.
6. The accuracy of the modelling, on which the SAP has been based is questionable.
7. What is the legal/statutory basis of the plan.
8. Why has there been a lack of consultation with the community and opportunities for understanding of the plan by the community?
My interim responses to these questions are as follows:
The plans should not affect house values although the doubts that it creates about road access are not helpful. The plans are intentionally designed to refer only to council assets. What will affect house values is the data that Council collects and includes in LIM reports and in Council’s Geomaps viewer in the natural hazards section.
LIM reports and the plan rely on the same data but I anticipate that LIM report data will be updated as circumstances change. I do not think that insurance companies will rely on these plans to make decisions about insurance but they will obviously look at the data relied on by LIM reports.
The plans do not look at community assets, only Council assets. To review community assets will require a significant change in is obviously a bigger piece of work.
Failure to give any certainty about roads is in my view one of the major weaknesses of the approach adopted and of the plans.
Land stability and flooding are bigger pieces of work that obviously will need to be done in the future.
The data will be reviewed from time to time. I note that the flooding data in Geomaps was remarkably accurate in predicting what would happen in last year’s storm.
The plans have no legal status as such.
The local board has insisted on there being greater opportunities for locals to have their say on the draft plans and I am pleased that staff have allowed for this to happen.
The level of concern and the issues being raised makes me wonder if we should have a local climate adaptation policy. Because the issue being talked about are primarily about seeking some certainty about adaption and planning.
The Environmental Defence Society has proposed a Climate Adaptation Act. The proposal is that there be legislative guidance setting out such things as a clear purpose for climate adaptation, mandatory regional climate change risk assessments, a National Environment Standard that requires that subdivision and that land use consents are not granted for new hazard-sensitive development where there is high natural hazard risk.
The proposal would require councils to collect information on the number, type and total value of buildings located in areas subject to high natural hazard risk. For locals EDS proposes that existing use rights are amended, with compensation so residential use can be excluded from areas undergoing managed retreat. It also suggests that a National Adaptation Fund be established to help finance the preparation and implementation of local adaptation plans as well as the acquisition of property for managed retreat.
The proposal anticipates local adaptation planning setting out the purpose of plans, when they are to be initiated, their content and the process to prepare them.
The proposal has merit. Given the response from locals I wonder if it is time for Council to prepare a localised climate change risk assessment as well as a local adaption plan for our area?
I sense a yearning for those big questions to be answered. How are we going to adapt to the effects of climate change and what will our future look like?
The current Shoreline Adaption Plans are not this piece of work.
Perhaps Council should start this larger discussion.
The local board is in the near future to provide its comments on the two draft shoreline adaption plans that affect our area. I anticipate that we will want to build into our resolutions comments to reflect work on this issue should not stop here but continue so that the implications for roads and private property owners is understood.
I move that the Local Board:
1. Receives my report.
2. Urges the Government and Auckland Council to fund the repairs of slips in road reserves which are impacting residents’ abilities to access and use their homes.
3. Requests staff to report back on measures outside of the Shoreline Adaption Plan to provide for adaption from change caused by global warming.
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