The now abandoned Scenic Circle Mueller Wing which was inundated by a 'flash flood' in the nearby Waiho (Waiau) River seven years ago. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
Calm heads rather than "wild accusations" are needed for essential Franz Josef stopbank work to proceed, the Scenic Circle Hotel Group says.
That statement from Scenic Circle executive chairwoman Lani Hagaman comes 12 days after Local Democracy Reporting approached her to respond to criticism from the West Coast Regional Council over Scenic's stance to fixing the flood risk at Franz Josef.
Insurers for Scenic Circle have lodged a $30 million claim against the regional council.
Westland District Council is the second defendant in the claim. That council under former mayor Bruce Smith and former district councillor Durham Havill proceeded to build a wall following the 2016 event which was not properly consented.
Council chief executive Heather Mabin said the hotel group's objection on day 19 of the 20-day notification period, as an affected party to the planned north bank stop bank improvements, was not "community minded" and unnecessarily delayed the $12.5m protection project.
The project has been on the books since 2021.
Hagaman dismissed the regional council view and also claimed it had "stonewalled" them.
"Recent council comments are nothing short of a diversionary tactic aimed at distracting public attention from delays and omissions caused by the council itself," she said.
Improvements and extensions to the Waiho River stopbanks in Franz Josef to prevent a repeat of the March 2016 flood were commonly agreed.
Hagaman said that flood destroyed the group's Mueller Wing and risked the lives of 125 staff and guests at Franz Josef.
"We believe that work done to the existing stopbank on the Waiho River and the river bed immediately before the flood, may have worsened the impact on our hotel.
"We also believe that this work may have been done without the necessary resource consent - or any affected party notification to us," Hagaman said.
"Our efforts to find out what occurred prior to the flood in 2016 have been stonewalled. Our official requests for more information have been completely ignored by the West Coast Regional Council."
While accountability was important it was also about understanding what happened "so we can ensure it doesn't happen again".
Hagaman said the group was paid out by insurers for the 1965-built hotel, which at the time of the flood was partially being used for staff accommodation.
Scenic's insurers in a standard practice were now undertaking recovery of some of the payout with the action in Scenic's name only, against the regional council and the Westland District Council.
"We are not a party to this action but we will be called as witnesses," Hagaman said. "The insurer court action is quite separate to the process for new stopbank work and it is misleading and potentially mischievous of the Westland Regional Council to link the two in comments to media."
Scenic was "totally committed to rebuilding" the now abandoned hotel but the cost would be in excess of $50m.
"We need to know that we can get insurance and that our staff and guests will be safe there in future extreme weather events.
"We have responsibilities as the owner of buildings used by the public and that's why we're being very thorough in understanding all aspects of this project before giving affected party approval."
New stopbanks were essential for future investment and insurance and the group fully supported efforts to get the work underway.
"We've put that in writing to the Westland Regional Council to share with the government."
Hagaman said they were first made aware of the new stopbank plans in late September and officially notified just before Christmas.
Scenic was working "constructively" with the council to progress the resource consent as quickly as possible.
"Whilst New Zealanders are understandably focused on flood issues and recovery at the moment, it's vitally important that we don't let proper process be swept away in our haste to get workable solutions."
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
