West Coast Regional Council leaders are in Wellington seeking clarity from the government on biodiversity rules and the future of Franz Josef.
Council chairman Peter Haddock and chief executive Daryl Lew are meeting with ACT MP Simon Court today, in the hopes of a clear steer on both issues.
Mr Court serves as Parliamentary Undersecretary to Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, who is also responsible for Resource Management Act reform.
Mr Haddock said there was confusion on the West Coast over the government's intended rules for significant natural areas (SNAs) - which protects native forest on private land.
"We urgently need clarity on this because we're in the middle of hearings on SNAs for our new combined district plan, and we have to know what the government's stance is."
Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard had first stated the government was going to 'kick SNA's out' then walked the statement back, Mr Haddock said.
The dilemma for the West Coast was that the Grey district had identified its SNAs 15 years ago while Westland and Buller had not.
"Those SNAs were established through a lawful process and the minister said, 'we're going to get rid of them'. They'd have to be pretty brave say they're just going to dissolve them all."
A lot of people probably now thought the SNAs on their land were going to be done away with in defiance of national and regional policy statements and rules, Mr Haddock said.
"But whether the government is game enough to toss all that out completely, or whether they will just tweak it, we don't know."
Either way, there were headaches and possibly large bills ahead for districts like Grey which had set up SNAs years ago.
Gibson said it would cost her council millions if it had to redo the process under current biodiversity rules.
But Mr Haddock said pausing the plan process could derail it.
"Our hearings commissioners won't be available in another six months, and we'd have to get new ones. Then we've got triennial elections coming up next year and there's no guarantee any of the councillors on that committee -- we could end up with a bunch of new people who know nothing about the plan."
The planners had also advised against stalling the hearings in the hope of more liberal SNA rules.
"They're saying you can't just disregard the current law and your own regional policy statement - and if the government doesn't pass that legislation we could be challenged in court, facing judicial review from Forest and Bird and million dollar legal bills.
"So we do need clarity. We can't disregard the law based on the causal word of one minister who retracted his statement the following day.
"At least, if the government said the existing SNAs are not going to be changed, we could just push on and get our combined Coast plan done and dusted."
The regional council leaders were also hoping for some clarity on funding to protect Franz Josef landowners from the ever-rising Waiho (Waiau) River, Mr Haddock said.
The Labour-New Zealand First government approved funding to upgrade stopbanks on both sides of the river, and work on the northern side protecting Franz Josef township was almost complete, he said.
But the last Labour government withheld the $12 million it had promised for the south bank, with its homes and dairy farms.
"They were more about retreat and relocation and they wanted a plan for moving before committing to releasing the funds.
"But the new government is more about protecting our communities, and we're really hopeful of getting that promised $12 million."
The West Coast Regional Council had come back with a plan, based on expert advice that the river would probably 'beat' the south side flats in 10 to 15 years' time, Mr Haddock said.
"The idea is we will release the river slowly from the bottom end, but build up the stop banks in the meantime to protect people and property - they've got to have somewhere to go and it buys us time to move the community."
The work would be co-funded by Franz Josef ratepayers, Mr Haddock said.
"The rating district down there is up for it; we're shovel ready.
"We know everyone's got their hands out for money at the moment, but protecting Franz Josef was mentioned in the Budget so we've been waiting for an announcement and we're hopeful."
- By Lois Williams
Local Democracy Reporter
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
