Photo: Greymouth Star
Councillors and iwi reps working on a new District Plan for the West Coast are asking their planners to ditch the planner-speak when they communicate with the public.
The Te Tai o Poutini Plan committee is calling for a plain-English explanation of controversial coastal hazard zone maps - or 'overlays' - that are causing consternation among coastal property owners.
The councils - who have been directed by the government to roll the Coast's three District Plans into one, are copping a backlash from ratepayers who say the maps are inconsistent and unfair.
Property owners were advised of changes to the hazard zones in a council mailout to 4000 households.
But the letters - in full-blown officialese - left many none the wiser, the TTPP committee heard this week
"The Te Tai o Poutini Plan Committee has prepared a Variation to the proposed Te Tai o Poutini Proposed Plan," the letter announced to baffled householders.
"This relates to updating the mapping of coastal hazards in the proposed TTPP. You are receiving this letter because you have been identified as the owner of a property directly affected by this Variation."
The letter referred the owner to the TTPP website for more information.
The message behind the formal language was that the council had altered its coastal hazard maps based on new information from LiDAR surveys in some parts of the Coast.
People could check the new ones online, at a council office or library to see if there were any changes to their property's risk profile, which appears on its LIM report - then write a submission in response.
But councillors at this week's TTPP meeting heard some people had binned the letters thinking they related to Tai Poutini (West Coast) Polytech or were otherwise irrelevant.
Of the 112 submitters who cracked the code and checked the maps, many complained about the opaque language.
"This has caused much anxiety and confused and upset people. The letters can't be understood, calls are not returned, the map viewer on the website is not working - what do they mean? This needs to be redone, " said one.
"The informing letter is overly complicated, leaving owners concerned and anxious," said another.
One submission in particular revealed the angst and information vacuum in some parts of the community.
"Who is on this TTPP?" a woman asked.
"Can people be forcibly removed from their homes? Do councils have a say? Will there be compensation?"
Buller woman Adriana De Ruiter James told the TTPP meeting the lack of clarity over the issue had sparked complaints to the Ombudsman and two public meetings.
"This was not 'by request', as you say in your report, it was a result of complaints," she said.
The hazard zones or overlays are a government requirement: councils must take climate change and predicted sea level rise into account when they make rules for coastal development.
But only a handful of coast submitters accepted their lot: more than 40 percent objected outright and most others wanted amendments to the hazard maps.
Many said LiDAR data takes no account of land contours; the maps disregard the presence of seawalls and consented setbacks, and include land that has never flooded while excluding land that has.
"What's this rubbish all about?" asked one angry Snodgrass man.
"We are 700 metres inland, three metres above sea level and we've never flooded."
A Cobden man said the new hazard maps would hurt the lower-income suburbs.
"It will affect insurance and house saleability - it could cripple some households."
In South Westland, Neils Beach locals said the maps ignored natural and recently-built protection and could drive people out.
The hazard maps would devalue properties, make it hard to get bank loans and reduce the rating base, warned Rating District chairperson John Sutton.
The submissions generated some serious soul-searching around the TTPP table.
The Regional Council's Brett Cummings said the Te Tai o Poutini Plan process was confusing for the public.
"Even now we've got people saying they don't understand what's going on and it's dragging on. Is that because we haven't really done that great a job ourselves?
"We've still got people out there who don't even know if it's a Polytech or a thing?"
Graeme Neylon suggested there should be a press release setting out the history and background of the new plan.
"There's a lot of people in the Buller, with a lot of misunderstanding of how this came about."
Grey District mayor Tania Gibson agreed.
"We're partly through the process, and more information needs to be put out - it's hard enough for us to understand it let alone the public."
Westland mayor Helen Lash said a public review of where the plan was at would not hurt.
"We know and understand the nuts and bolts but we forget the people out there don't and they are the ones who wear the bulk of the impact, financial or regulations.
"But it has to be in layman's terms that they understand."
Regional Council chairperson Peter Haddock lots of people had asked him why the West Coast even needed a combined District Plan.
While it had been forced on councils in 2018 by the Local Government Commission after a petition from ratepayers, it was the way of the future, he believed.
"Government has signalled just recently that all regions must have their one plan, so we are probably ahead of the game."
But Makaawhio chairperson Paul Madgwick said communication had always been the Achilles heel of the TTPP.
"This clearly shows we got it wrong. Although we sent out 4000 letters to property owners I don't think we have tried hard enough to put this in plain English.
"I struggle to understand it … a lot around this table struggle to understand it. You almost need a Master's degree to get to the bottom of what does it actually mean for my property?"
The TTPP team had made the same mistake when it fired out letters notifying of sites of significance to Māori, Madgwick said.
"We managed to alarm people unnecessarily and I don't think we've learned from that, to be honest."
Madgwick - who is the editor of the Greymouth Star - said the Regional Council, which administers the TTPP work, needed to somehow convert its communications into plain English.
"Of course you need a scientific explainer but for poor old Joe Bloggs out there he just needs to know, how's this going to affect my property in the future?"
Regional Council chief executive Darryl Lew told the committee the message was clear and would be actioned.
"We need to communicate in the media the whole genesis of this plan and we want a plain English review and edit of the letters going out to the public from now on, on everything TTPP.
"And it must be plain English, not legal or tech or planning speak."
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
