Work on strengthening and raising the stop banks between the Westland Milk Products site and the Hokitika River on the southern side of the town is progressing, as seen on 15 June. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
West Coast Regional Council has approved an agreement with Westland Milk Products for the dairy company to pay nearly $1.5 million for Stage 1a of the Hokitika River flood protection work.
The draft agreement was tabled at the regional council meeting on 13 June.
Just days into the job, council chief executive Darryl Lew was given the go-ahead to tweak the agreement prior to signing it off.
Lew also sought a change in delegation to him as CEO without changing the draft agreement's intent.
"There are some finer points in the agreement that need to be worked through," he said.
"If there are any substantive differences I will come back to the table."
Council has already started the project to shore up and raise 700 metres of flood protection on the bank immediately behind WMP.
Looking south over residential Hokitika the Westland Milk Products site dominates the skyline in its river-side setting. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
It got underway in early May as 'emergency works' and is progressing rapidly.
At the same time the council and WMP had been in talks for several months about a financial contribution to the first stage of the Hokitika River flood works.
The section of bank alongside the West Coast Wilderness Trail from the Livingston Street Corner, behind the factory towards the ITM site on Kaniere Road, was deemed urgent last year after the Hokitika River changed direction.
It had also been flagged as an issue as far back as 2010 when the regional council commissioned a study on Hokitika River flooding, backed up by a review with fresh modelling in 2020.
On at least one occasion in the past six months the river has come within 40 millimetres of overtopping the old bank behind the dairy factory - threatening what is a billion dollar industry for the region and risking an incursion into the Hokitika residential area.
Infrastructure governance committee chairman Frank Dooley said getting to the stage of nailing down an agreement was "a great outcome for the ratepayers".
Chairman Peter Haddock reiterated what Dooley said.
He noted the benefit of a strong relationship in Westland "actively" benefiting the wider community.
"It's them being part of the community, good for the community that would have otherwise struggled to pay," Haddock said.
Dooley said hopefully that relationship would continue to be enhanced, noting the vital importance of the current and ongoing investment in the WMP site by the principal shareholder Yili in the West Coast economy.
"It's such an indication of the commitment to the region by the only shareholder," he said.
"They've made this commitment to the region and to assist our ratepayers with these projects."
The funding agreement relates to the initial 1a aspect of the planned wider protection scheme which will eventually stretch from above the Kaniere Bridge right down to the Hokitika River mouth.
The agreement is for WMP to make a financial contribution for 1a - in total $1,295,226 plus GST (if any), in three instalments to be paid by July 2024.
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