Residents plead with council to resolve long-term flooding issues

The Team Reporter from The Press

Brooklands and Spencerville residents are exhausted and fed up worrying about the threat of regular flooding and are pleading with the Christchurch City Council to do something about it.

A petition, signed by 159 residents of the two settlements on the city’s northern outskirts, was presented to the council on Thursday.

The residents want the council to build a stop bank around the lagoon to prevent flooding of their properties.

Community leader Amanda Neil told the council, residents were exhausted trying to maintain their resilience.

“They are worried and anxious every time the rain starts and all the more so when it continues all day and night.

”They are desperately concerned for their family’s safety and their homes which are constantly under threat of damage and further devaluation.

”They lose far too much sleep which can severely and sadly affect their mental health.”

A large part of Brooklands was red-zoned after the 2011 quake, but not all of it.

Brooklands and Spencerville were prone to flooding because they were low-lying and nestled between the Styx River and the Brooklands Lagoon, which feed into the mouth of the Waimakariri River.

Neil has been trying to get the council’s attention since being evacuated from her Brooklands home by local fire crews during a 2017 storm.

Flooding caused her outdoor power box to explode, setting a hedge on fire.

“If we continue to try living in denial, we will end up trying to live in de-Waimak.”

Neil urged the council to spend the money needed to build the stop bank.

“Hardly anyone believes any more that any help will come.”

Another resident Jan Burney urged the council to end the uncertainty and to consult with the people.

She appealed to the council to address earthquake damage, sea-level rise and climate changes to ensure sustainable outcomes for everyone.

As a result of Neil’s petition, the council requested staff advice on the issue.

Mayor Lianne Dalziel thanked Neil for her “passion and commitment”.

Dalziel pointed out that Environment Canterbury (ECan) was responsible for the Waimakariri stop banks and the city council was responsible for the Styx River banks.

Council chief executive Dawn Baxendale said she expected staff to talk with ECan and the two authorities to come to conclusions together.

In a response to questions provided to Stuff before the meeting, council planning and consents head John Higgins said it was likely the issues around Brooklands and Spencerville would be addressed as part of the council’s plan to deal with the impacts of sea level rise.

The newly established coastal hazards adaptation planning programme would begin in the Lyttelton Harbour basin in spring.

But exactly when Brooklands and Spencerville would be looked at as part of the programme had not been decided, Higgins said.