A North Canterbury council boss has hit back at claims from Kaikōura election candidates that his council is ignoring Ministerial advice in its efforts to address climate change.
Hurunui District Council chief executive Hamish Dobbie said a letter sent to all councils by Climate Change Minister Simon Watts on June 30 advised against using “high-end emissions scenarios” in climate modelling, but did not make any specific reference to the Hurunui district.
In response to a question on the roles of central Government and local government in dealing with climate change, Act candidate Tom Spooner and New Zealand First candidate Jamie Arbuckle were critical of the council’s climate modelling in developing options for the Amberley Beach village to adapt to sea level rise and coastal erosion.
They were speaking at the Kaikōura election meeting at Balcairn Hall last week.
The council has been working with its beach communities since 2020 on climate adaptation plans, including Amberley Beach.
“The letter warned councils to be careful you aren’t using fanciful climate change models,” Mr Dobbie said.
“But it didn’t say ‘don’t use this model or that model’, and we need to remember models are always changing as we get new information.”
Mr Spooner said he was “surprised” local government was not taking “instructions from the Minister” in its efforts to address climate change.
Mr Arbuckle said while councils needed to invest in infrastructure, they should not be using “rubbish modelling”.
The council began working on a coastal adaptation plan with Amberley Beach residents six years ago, adopting it in June 2023.
The modelling was based on a report by international science and technology firm Jacobs, which considered low, medium and high range scenarios.
Jacobs later won an international award for a web-based tool, ‘‘Coastal Adaptation Explorer’’, it developed to assist the council in its engagement with residents, while the council won an award for its consultation with the Amberley Beach community.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon praised the council for its efforts to address climate change, during a visit to Amberley in April.
Last year the council purchased the $3.8m Rosewood farm and notified a plan change in July to create a 230-home sub-division, with sections to be offered to the 109 Amberley Beach property owners for $11,000.
But the move has drawn criticism from Amberley Beach residents and neighbouring properties.
“All we are doing is creating a pathway for people to move if they choose too,” Mr Dobbie said.
“And we’ve got a Government which has stated its intention of extinguishing payouts for houses affected by flooding.
“We could say (to property owners) ‘it’s your problem’ or we could create some options.”
Mr Dobbie said even if people did not believe in climate change, they could not deny the changing dynamics of “coastal processes”.
“If you’ve been going to Amberley Beach over the last 10 years you can see the coastal processes at work.”
The council built a new $750,000 coastal bund last year to protect the Amberley Beach village from the sea, funded by a targeted rate.
It replaced an earlier one, which was gradually being eaten away by the sea.
A bund is a type of embankment which protects against the sea.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
