Action for Ngongotahā

Community Reference Group tasked with reducing future storm impacts

The Ngongotaha Community Reference Group was tasked with helping Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council reduce the impact of future storm events in Ngongotahā.

The Independent Review of the severe weather event on 29 April 2018 resulted in recommendations to both Councils and the aim of the Community Reference Group is to assist our councils on developing mitigation options and methods for community engagement for discussing options to create a safer and more resilient Ngongotaha township.

The group’s monthly meetings include updates from five workstreams:

• Ngongotaha stream maintenance workstream
• RMA Planning and Consenting workstream
• Civil Defence Community Preparedness workstream
• Stream flood capacity modelling and optioneering for possible future design solutions
• Upper Catchment workstream.

At the recent meeting, members were updated on the upper catchment flood management options. Opportunities for upper catchment flood mitigation are becoming clearer, and can now potentially be combined with lower catchment mitigation options, for a more cost-effective overall flood management approach.

The civil defence workstream reported back on the recent community outreach day in Ngongotahā on June 16, organised by Red Cross Disaster Welfare Support in conjunction with civil defence staff. Staff visited 272 homes with many residents answering a questionairre about their household’s emergency preparedness. Red Cross Disaster Welfare Support teams from Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Rotorua took part.

The Reference Group was also worked through one of the twelve potential options for considering how a future large flood event might be managed. The group set the parameters for assessing the remaining options for further discussion at the July meeting.

The members of the Community Reference Group will soon be looking at feeding this information back into the community and seeking feedback from residents. The members of the Reference Group include:

• Heather Brake
• Simon Short
• Sarah Thomson
• Elliot Pollard
• Keith Garratt
• Guy Ngatai
• Joe Edwards
• Te Poari Newton
• Lyall Thurston (Bay of Plenty Regional Councillor)
• Shirley Trumper (Rotorua Lakes Council Rural Community Board member).

Meanwhile, a community planting day has been organised for the Pioneer Drainage Reserve on July 2. The planting will take place between 10.30am and 12.30pm with support from Ngongotahā Primary, Ngongotahā Early Learning Centre, Central Kids Kindergarten, Infracore Contracting Limited and the Ngongotahā Bowling Club.

Ngongotahā Community Reference Group

A Community Reference Group is being formed to assist the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC) and Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC) to collaborate and effectively connect with the affected community and iwi, and to ultimately ensure that any action plan options chosen, are balanced, practical, affordable, deliver the risk reduction that the local people need and don't create new issues or flooding

The ‘Community Reference Group’ will perform and support the following:

• Filter/narrow down the flood reduction/mitigation options that are realistic, pragmatic, appropriate and acceptable to the Ngongotaha catchment community
• Assist interpreting and communicating flood modelling and mitigation options so they are understandable to the wider public
• Being a conduit for BOPRC & RLC to connect with the wider community
• Assisting in engagement with the wider community on the proposed programme of works and help in seeking wider community input

For more information see the 'Terms of Reference'.

Work completed to date

In the weeks and months following the flood, both Councils faced significant repairs to infrastructure.

This included stop banks; roading and stormwater network as well as the banks of the Ngongotahā Stream.

Progress one year on from flooding event

Families are back home and future mitigation plans are being developed one year on from the severe weather event which cause flooding and widespread damage across Rotorua.

The weather event hit Rotorua on April 29, and as a result 94 homes were issued with insanitary notices, nearly 1000 residents also registered with Rotorua Lakes Council’s Civil Defence welfare team. While the majority of affected residents are back in their homes, four insanitary notices are still active.

The event caused extensive damage to some Rotorua roads, but no serious injuries occurred.

In the 12 months since, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Rotorua Lakes Council have been working together to repair damage and reduce the risk and impact of future storm events. Since the event 118 locations on the stream have been identified for remedial works and 75 of these have now been completed.

An independent panel conducted a review into the flooding event and released a report with 24 recommendations; these are being worked through. This is now being led by a project team, which is made up of executive and specialist/technical staff from both councils. They are also supported by the Ngongotahā Community Reference Group.  

The reference group, which is made up of community and iwi representatives as well as elected members, will provide advice and recommendations to both councils and will lead community engagement and consultation around the development of plans for short/medium and long term actions.

While primarily focussed on Ngongotahā, the learnings and recommendations from the review are expected to be applied in future decision-making for the whole of the Rotorua district where applicable.

Rotorua Lakes Council Civil Defence primary controller and Infrastructure Group Manager Stavros Michael says the welfare of affected residents has always been the highest priority.

A Flood Recovery Office was set up with four community wellbeing navigators employed to ensure affected residents were assisted with returning home. This wrapped up at the end of 2018.

Mr Michael says identifying future programmes to reduce risk was also a top priority.

“It cannot be assured that flooding will not re-occur. All that can be done through stream maintenance, engineering works and land development planning is to reduce the risk and impact of flooding,” he says.

“On the basis that flooding cannot be fully prevented, an emergency response plan is been developed to ensure that people can be evacuated from the risk areas in a significant event to safer areas until the event is over.”

This inter agency emergency response plan is being created by Civil Defence staff in collaboration with the Ngongotahā community.

Mr Michael, who is also part of the project team says the basis of the Ngongotahā Action Plan currently focuses on preventive maintenance on all stormwater systems (streams, channels and pipes) and developing long term engineering options for consideration by the Reference Group and the two Councils.

He says Ngongotahā residents can expect early maintenance of key areas, and a range of engineering/planning options around July/August. 

Remedial works completed by both BOPRC and RLC:

• Out of a total of 118 sites (in the Ngongotahā Scheme Area) needing repair, 75 of the highest risk/priority sites have been repaired
• 4800 tonne of rock has been utilized in rock armouring of erosion damage sites in Ngongotahā stream
• BOPRC has appointed a permanent position to run ongoing maintenance across the Rotorua river and flood protection schemes and oversee flood damage repair works
• 150m of stopbanks have been rebuilt and additional vegetation and asset maintenance works completed
• 3000 native plants used so far for stabilisation planting, with a further 3800 plants on order for the winter planting season
• 700 tonnes of rock armouring on flood damages sites in the Waitetī Stream
• Tarawera Road undermining damage repairs completed
• Paradise Valley Road should be complete in May
• Rerewhakaaitu Bridges reinstated
• Oneku culvert completed
• Machine-cleaning of the Reporoa drainage network has been completed for this year. Work will recommence on the next priority drains at the end of next spring.
• Other sites with minor damage Mountain Road, Mangatete Road, Parsons Road, Waiotapu Loop Road have been awarded under contract and will be complete by June 30^th
• RLC staff have continued to liaise with Waikato Regional Council who have been carrying out improvements to flow in the Waiotapu Stream, into which our drain network discharges
• The Elizabeth/Pererika Street area is under consideration for a pumping solution. Some modelling has been undertaken but more detailed report to be prepared.

Mayoral Manaakitanga Relief Fund:

• Applications were open to anyone affected – not just those issued with insanitary notices
• Total amount raised: $67, 216
• Number of applications: 77
• Number of approved applications: 76
• Reasons for applications: Insurance excess, help with uninsured items, bond for temporary accommodation, food recovery costs, replacing furniture
• Applications closed at the end of 2018

Project Timeline

• December 2018: Release of flood review report
• February/March 2019: Community reference group established to work through recommendations together with the technical teams
• May/June 2019: Results from catchment modelling work due and preliminary works options developed
• June/July: Community engagement and dialogue on draft suite of options
• July/August: Finalise options report and highlight delivery timeframes (short/medium/long term including funding scenarios)
• Later 2019 onwards: Presentation of final recommendations to both Councils and progressive implementation of agreed actions once adopted by Councils.

Community Reference Group for the Ngongotaha Flood Mitigation Options

A Community Reference Group is being formed to assist the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC) and Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC) to collaborate and effectively connect with the affected community and iwi, and to ultimately ensure that any action plan options chosen, are balanced, practical, affordable, deliver the risk reduction that the local people need and don't create new issues or flooding.

The ‘Community Reference Group’ will perform and support the following:

• Filter/narrow down the flood reduction/mitigation options that are realistic, pragmatic, appropriate and acceptable to the Ngongotaha catchment community.
• Assist interpreting and communicating flood modelling and mitigation options so they are understandable to the wider public.
• Being a conduit for BOPRC & RLC to connect with the wider community.
• Assisting in engagement with the wider community on the proposed programme of works and help in seeking wider community input.

Applications open for Community Reference Group (1)

A project team, which is made up of executive and specialist/technical staff from both Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council, has been tasked with creating the Ngongotahā Action Plan which will include a range of work, agreed by the community reference group, aimed at reducing the risk and impact of future storm events.

Several people have already expressed interest in being part of the Community Reference Group, but applications can now also be made online.

The project team has established that the reference group will made up of community, iwi representatives and elected members and will provide advice and recommendations to both councils and will lead community engagement and consultation around the development of plans for short/medium and long term actions.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has approved Rotorua-based councillor Lyall Thurston as their elected member representation on the group. Rural Community Board Chair Shirley Trumper has been discussed as the Rotorua Lakes Council elected member representation but this decision is still to go through council.

We are seeking expressions of interest from persons with the following skills:

• The ability to digest information/options and advise how to best word/pitch this information to a wider audience.
• The ability to advise future focused solutions that meet the community’s needs.
• Able to consider the big picture and make recommendations that are in the best interests of the entire area.
• Familiar with working in a collaborative environment, making quality consensus based decisions.

Applicants will be selected against the following criteria:

• Live in the Ngongotahā Catchment and/or have an intimate understanding of the area and community.
• Are representative of the community (but you don’t need to represent a particular group) and/or need to be able to speak on behalf of others.
• Have community connections via a number of Ngongotahā associated networks (e.g. clubs/sports clubs, churches, associations, interest groups etc).
• Have the required skills to fulfil the role

The required commitment would likely be:

• Prepare for and attend monthly workshops/meetings.
• Attend some community engagement events to be decided by the Community Reference Group.

For more information and to fill out an application visit:

• https://letstalk.rotorualakescouncil.nz/Community-Reference-Group-for-the-Ngongotaha-Flood-Mitigation-Options

Expressions of interest for the Community Reference Group close on Thursday 28 February.