Residents of a coastal community in Hawke’s Bay say they are feeling “significant distress and concern” about the prospect of managed retreat, with some talking about selling up and moving to Australia in the hope of “getting the hell out of it”, regional leaders have been told.
Doug Dickson, of Whirinaki, just north of Napier, spoke to the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy joint committee on Monday on behalf of residents whose concerns had been elevated following last month’s release of a report on the ‘’planned retreat’’ of coastal properties in Hawke’s Bay.
The report says 43 properties at Whirinaki are among the 106 properties in Napier and Hastings that are “assumed to need retreating” during the next 20 years.
Managed retreat is a term used to describe moving buildings and infrastructure away from areas that are at risk because of climate change, within a certain time frame.
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While the phrase “managed retreat” sounds orderly, conjuring an image of neatly packed suitcases, there is still a lot of uncertainty over how this will play out in different communities and who will pay.
Earlier this month, the Government released its first plan for coping with climate hazards. However, the plan doesn’t declare who will pay when property is lost or damaged and insurance won’t cover it, or when whole communities have to move.
The beach at Whirinaki suffered erosion in a storm last month that destroyed the possibility of quad-bike access.
“People have bought out there recently and are talking about possibly losing everything with the proposed possible retreat,” Dickson told committee members.
“There are people talking about selling immediately and moving to Australia, getting the hell out of it, because they don’t see any future where they are.”
Residents’ long-term plans had been “basically destroyed” because of what may happen during the next 20 years, Dickson said.
“There is a huge amount of significant distress amongst a good number of people out there now,” he said.
He said residents’ views varied from knowing very little about coastal erosion to others “who have an intense fear of losing everything – their life’s work”.
People were worried about the prospects of plummeting property values and getting insurance cover. Some residents were still heavily mortgaged and would never recover financially if their houses were to be uplifted, Dickson said.
Last month’s report had been particularly unsettling, and there was concern among the community about what they believed was a lack of information since it was released.
Dickson said the council’s rates bill had arrived recently with a pamphlet outlining work being done by the local authority, but it mentioned nothing about coastal projects.
“Some of the street conversations have ranged from ‘What are they going to do about it?’ to outright hostility,” he said.
One of the concerns was about where residents were supposed to relocate to if they were forced to leave.
Dickson said there was no land banking or money put aside to finance the proposals in the report. Some suggested the council would be better off spending money mitigating against the erosion, rather than moving people away from Whirinaki Beach.
Dickson spoke about one resident who had a full-sized petanque court on the Whirinaki foreshore 30 years ago; now there was no trace of it. However, he said he did not believe the erosion issues were as serious as portrayed in the media.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s group manager of asset management, Chris Dolley, said the current strategy for Whirinaki included a plan for beach renourishment.
The council had mechanisms to consult with the community and potentially fund the work being proposed, Dolley said.
“I guess part of the frustration of the community is the amount of time it takes to go through that particular process,” he said.
Committee chairperson Jerf van Beek said there was currently a lot of misinformation or lack of knowledge among coastal residents, and he felt face-to-face meetings about the report would be beneficial.
“We need to be brave and to meet them and have that discussion,” he said.
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