Scenic Group outlines its Franz Josef concerns

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

A crucial hearing affecting the protection of Franz Josef township will finally get under way this Friday more than a year after work began on the $24 million Waiho Scheme.

The West Coast Regional Council let a contract in May 2022 to Greymouth contractor MBD for flood bank improvements and extensions on the Waiho true right bank, for the $12.5m first stage, but council soon ran into trouble.

Late last year as council tried to quickly resolve the necessary resource consents on a non-notified basis, the Scenic Hotel Group declined to give affected party approval.

Now a public hearing will convene in Greymouth this Friday, July 28, to hear from both sides. The hearing commissioner will first visit Franz Josef on Thursday.

According to papers filed for the hearing, Scenic Circle told the regional council back in January it was not confident construction on the new flood resilience scheme demonstrated enough safeguards to allow them to rebuild the hotel with confidence.

Scenic pointed out that the stopbank below the township and behind the hotel had failed on March 23 2016 “following unauthorised and unconsented work” in the riverbed, including “the diversion of the river towards the hotel.”

It did not state who had done that work but Scenic noted its insurers considered both the regional council and the Westland District Council and their respective contractors responsible for the subsequent flood damage.

"SHGL does not want to see a repeat of this in the riverbed and on the stop banks resulting in flooding or damage to its property in the future."

Scenic claimed it wished to rebuild a new hotel on the old site "but cannot do so" without being able to finance and insure the site due to the risk.

It also contended that what happened in 2016 was down to the regional council's "failure to maintain" the old stopbanks "and to prevent contractors and locals from excavating and gravel" from the old stop bank area.

The council had failed to "properly police and monitor" work in the river bed prior to the 2016 event, and where gravel was taken, to ensure it did not endanger their property or that of third parties.

The council had also failed in its role to ensure resource consents were held by those doing the work.

It was important that the "the failures and processes of the past" were not repeated by the new scheme, Scenic said.

Since January the $30m claim by Scenic's insurers has been settled confidentially for an undisclosed sum by both councils.

In the meantime, work on the northern flood bank improvement and extension by the West Coast Regional Council has slowed to a snail’s pace.

Crucial to the planned work is the raising the existing stopbank, and an extension by nearly 1km extension from the Franz Josef Heliport to below the derelict hotel site.

In the meantime council has had to go back to central government to reassure it that it is managing the situation, in order to keep its funding.

*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air