Minutes of Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee

1. Welcome/Karakia /Apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and Councillor Charles Lambert led a karakia.

Resolution

CLI35/23 That the apologies for absence from Councillor Jerf van Beek and Evelyn Ratima be accepted.

Redstone/Price

CARRIED

2. Conflict of interest declarations

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee meeting held on 12 May 2023

CLI36/23

Resolution

Minutes of the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee meeting held on Friday, 12 May 2023, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and correct record.

Dixon/Harding

CARRIED

Coastal Hazards Management Interim Response Plan

Chris Dolley and Simon Bendall introduced the item with discussions and comments including:

· Community consultation on Strategy including the transfer of the Strategy responsibility to HBRC has been deferred until mid-2024. The Interim Response Plan (Plan) is intended to clearly set out the responsibilities and processes that will be in place to deal with any issues that may arise along the coast in the interim.

· The Plan has eight key actions covering business as usual, monitoring activities and managing/improving current consents. The Plan is intended to be a living document that provides clarity for possible interventions.

· The existing Memorandum of Transition (MoT) between the three Councils involved sets out when consultation should take place including any interventions planned /undertaken. The Interim Response Plan will be amended to reflect MoT settings as well.

· The Plan will provide the community with some reassurance and will be an operational guide for council staff.

· As an operational document it is not considered necessary for each Council to accept the Plan, rather the Joint Committee itself can endorse it.

CLI37/23

Resolutions

That the Clifton to Tangoio Costal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee:

1. Receives and considers the Coastal Hazards Management Interim Response Plan staff report.

2. Endorses the draft Coastal Hazards Interim Response Plan as proposed.

3. Directs the Technical Advisory Group to confirm and implement the final Coastal Hazards Interim Response Plan, and report on implementation and outcomes at each future Joint Committee meeting.

Corban/Price

CARRIED

Adaptation Thresholds Development Report

Simon Bendall introduced the item with discussion and comment including:

· There are recommended Strategy pathways in place which were developed by each community panel. Each pathway has short, medium and long term steps in each phase. These are not currently “adaptive” however – there are no identified markers for when to move from one step to the next. A workstream is in place to look at signals, triggers and thresholds to inform when decisions should be made to move along the Strategy pathways.

· This report is looking to define what the thresholds are – the Strategy can then be utilised to avoid a threshold being reached. There has been community input into the development of the thresholds. It is now being proposed that there is a pause in threshold development work until the community has been fully consulted about these.

· After the thresholds have been consulted on with the wider community through the Strategy notification, the signals and triggers relating to each will be developed. These are very complex and technical and it is considered that development of these should be deferred until full responsibility for the Strategy has been determined following consultation.

· Signals, triggers and thresholds include cultural elements and these have yet to be developed. There is a Mātauranga Māori workstream in the Strategy - as information and detail flows from that work, this will be used to inform the development of signals, triggers and the thresholds themselves.

· The protection of mahinga kai is a major concern for tāngata whenua. This has been highlighted already and needs to be understood – potentially, action that might be taken to mitigate a hazard could in fact have a detrimental effect on mahinga kai.

· Mātauranga Māori view of the seabed is that it is no different to land above sea level - all land should be protected.

· Simon noted that he will update the Thresholds report to better reflect the input mana whenua have had on their development and how these gaps will be addressed.

CLI38/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives and notes the Adaptation Thresholds Development Report and that the Triggers Workstream is concluded until after the Strategy notification process.

Harding/Redstone

CARRIED

Real Options Analysis of strategies to manage Coastal Hazard Risks in Hawke's Bay

Chris Dolley and Simon Bendall introduced this item with discussions and comments including:

· A real options analysis report was provided a few years ago to assist community panels as they considered which pathways to recommend. It is similar to a cost-benefit analysis but at the time the financial assumptions used were high level. There are now more in-depth reports available (such as the Tonkin+Taylor Managed Retreat report) and information from these has been used to update the initial Real Options analysis. TAG wanted to test whether the more accurate costings now available would alter the overall outcome of the real options analysis.

· In summary – the assessment carried out still suggests that ‘buying time’ by building structures along the coast to mitigate hazards is still viewed as the most cost effective/ viable option in the short term.

CLI39/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives and notes the Real Options Analysis of Strategies to Manage Coastal Hazard Risks in Hawke’s Bay report and that no further action on real options analysis is required at this stage.

Corban/Lambert

CARRIED

Project Manager’s update

Simon Bendall introduced this item with comments and discussion including:

· Noted that most workstreams are now tracking well given extension of time.

· Simon wished to highlight that the ‘Timeframe’ measure remained ‘Red’ (key risk) given the ongoing delays with finalising the Strategy while communities continue to experience coastal hazards impacts.

· A communications and engagement plan has again been delayed. HBRC communications team is currently experiencing large workloads and a consultant (Frank Engagement) has now been contracted to provide ongoing support. A plan will be presented at the next Joint Committee meeting.

CLI40/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives and notes the Project Manager’s update.

Redstone/Price

CARRIED

Current coastal projects update

Chris Dolley introduced this item which was taken as read. Comments and discussions included:

· North Terrace, Westshore- temporary repair work is being carried out which is expected to take five weeks to complete. HBRC and NCC are working together closely on this matter.

· MoT between the Councils has seen the work being carried out on the Rangatira Revetment (Whakarire Ave, Westshore) become the subject of correspondence between NCC and HBRC. This matter is expected to be progressed shortly.

· Maraetotara river mouth at Te Awanga – there has been a proposal to build a revetment wall however this is still under investigation.

CLI41/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives the Current coastal projects update.

Price/Dixon

CARRIED

Recent coastal events

Jose Beya provided a presentation about the coastal impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle:

· There were high wave levels recorded during the Cyclone including one of the highest ever recorded near the port at 5.94m high. Despite this, coastal damage was not significant but lots of debris now litters the coastline.

· Storm surge peaked at 0.62 m above the predicted high tide level in the Cyclone period.

· Two monitoring buoys were affected with one swept around 80m from its original location

· Te Awanga beach front experienced noticeable erosion with the sea now threatening to break into the lagoon

· Damage to the Esk rivermouth is largely inland, rather than along the coast itself.

CLI42/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives and notes the Recent coastal events staff report.

Corban/Harding

CARRIED

10.

Follow-up actions update

Simon Bendall introduced the item commenting on:

· Funding workshop will be held before the next Joint Committee meeting in September 2023.

· The Chair noted that the Joint Committee’s Terms of Reference includes tsunami as being within the Committee’s scope. Other Councils (through flooding mitigation) and CDEM Group also have tsunami impacts in their scope as well. The Chair sought discussion on whether tsunami should be in or out of scope for this committee. Simon noted that he has been asked to prepare a ‘map’ of adaptation / hazard planning activities taking place across councils to understand where work is happening and what the interrelationships are. This may assist the discussion on whether tsunami should remain in scope for this committee. It was agreed that this map should be presented back to the next Joint Committee meeting and this matter discussed further then.

· A risk analysis across all Councils is being undertaken now and the results of this will be presented to the Joint Committee when available. This report will, by its nature, include tsunami risk commentary for each Council.

· Simon is providing an update on the Coastal Strategy to both the HBRC Māori Committee and the Regional Planning Committee as requested by the Joint Committee.

CLI43/23

Resolution

That the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee receives and notes the Follow-up actions update.

Hopmans/Redstone

CARRIED

Councillor Charles Lambert closed the meeting with a karakia.

Closure:

There being no further business, the Chair declared the meeting closed at 11.23am Friday 11 August 2023.

Signed as a true and correct record.

Date: by Joint Committee resolution 22 September 2023 Chair: Jerf van Beek