Many of the hardest hit streets were those with Kāinga Ora homes, he said. Buller emergency operations centre controller Bob Dickson said building assessors were going through homes from Sunday afternoon to determine which were still habitable. People were resilient, but support would be needed long-term. “We re looking at many, many months [of work] this is a big, large-scale event.” Faafoi said the Government would provide $300,000 to the Buller District Council s mayoral fund and $100,000 to Marlborough s fund – another region affected by flooding, road closures and evacuations over the weekend. Westport s housing issues would be “one of the challenges we ll work through” once the floodwaters had receded and the damage could be better assessed.
Ardern said the Government understood reforming New Zealand’s water assets might harm the balance sheets of some councils. Just over $23m of the $2b fund would go to Marlborough, with Nelson and Tasman receiving $20.7m and $22.5m respectively. The funding was based on both population and deprivation. It comes on top of the $1.05b already committed to the three waters reforms, triggered after contaminated drinking water left a third of Havelock North’s residents sick with campylobacter in 2016, possibly leading to three deaths. Joining the reforms remains optional, but the Government has warned councils that without them household water bills could be as high as $9000 a year in 30 years.
O’Brien said he was glad to make a contribution to the city where he and his family have lived for many years. “This is my town, my kids all went to school here. It’s nice being a local, in that sense . feeling like I can contribute back to my community, our community.” He said the church had “a place in the heart of Nelson”, and as dean of the cathedral he would be strengthening those connections. “It is a great role to connect the church and the city,” he said.
Virginia Woolf/Nelson Mail
The Very Reverend Graham O Brien with wife Lee-ann and the choir ahead of his installation as Dean at a service on Sunday.
In its letter of expectation to the NRDA, the Nelson City Council outlined five key outcomes it was expected to deliver – with an economy that was regenerative, productive, inclusive, resilient, and creative. “The big challenges set out in letter of expectation is that we need to focus on regeneration and recovery,” Wilson said. “Crossing all of those [strategies] will be key issues – wellbeing, inclusion, climate change and the Māori economy. “Really these outcomes and priorities all point to a wellbeing economy and sustainable economic development.”
MARTIN DE RUYTER/Stuff
The next phase of Project Kōkiri, first launched in June 2020 as a regional response to the economic challenges of Covid, will form a major part of the NRDA’s work over the next three years.
At a meeting of the council’s Regional Transport Committee last week, Future Access project manager Rhys Palmer reported to councillors on some of the key feedback they had received so far. Palmer said over the five weeks of consultation there had been nearly 1700 responses from online users, along with about 250 people attending the three open days during May. The consultation period had to be extended by a week to June 18, following requests from residents and community leaders. He said while there was still some work to do to collate all the feedback, several key themes had already emerged. At Rocks Rd, one of the proposals has been for a separated walking and cycling facility to be built – which if approved would necessitate the replacement of the current sea wall.