Any plans around the future of roading in the Marlborough Sounds will be based on informed decisions made in conjunction with the local community and Central Government.

That was one of the key messages from Friday’s Marlborough Community Recovery webinar attended online by more than 250 people.

The community meeting provided information on the recovery efforts underway across the region and was led by Marlborough District Council, with support from Waka Kotahi.

Council Chief Executive Mark Wheeler said final decisions about the future of some of the roads severely damaged in the August weather event were yet to be made. “Council wants to be able to provide road access, but the reality is in some areas there may need to be a reduction in levels of service,” he told attendees.

Mr Wheeler and Manager Strategic Planning and Economic Development Neil Henry will lead the strategic work to develop a long-term recovery plan, considering the effects on housing and roads, climate change impacts and financial sustainability.

Speaking after the event, Mr Wheeler said there will be a lot more work and engagement required before Council can commence formal decision-making processes.

“The initial assessments of the August weather event, a three-day deluge across the top of the south, had shown that it could cost up to several hundred million dollars to fully restore local roads,” Mr Wheeler revealed during the webinar.

“It was an incredibly severe rainfall event, and the worst of the damage has occurred in the Marlborough Sounds,” he said.

Of the $85.3M already approved to be spent on repairs from the July 2021 event, around $40M remains unspent.

Council has made a request to Waka Kotahi that this funding be re-allocated to responding to the August 2022 event to achieve emergency service/essential service access where possible, achieve public access and to continue with 2021 damage sites on priority routes that have not been affected by August event.

Several ‘priority’ roads have been identified:

• Queen Charlotte Drive
• French Pass (to 3km short of township)
• Awatere Valley
• Waihopai Valley
• Northbank Road
• Port Underwood Road
• Opouri Road
• Kenepuru Road - Queen Charlotte Drive to Moetapu Bay intersection
• Kenepuru Road - Fish Bay to Kenepuru Head
• Kenepuru Road - Torea Bay to Kenepuru Head

Several ‘priority’ barge sites have also been identified at Torea Bay and Fish Bay and investigations are underway into Te Mara Point (Pudneys) and damage to Waitaria Bay jetty.

Recovery Manager Dean Heiford also reported on the short-term recovery effort. “We are not even 13 months on from the last weather event in July 2021, and not even halfway through the repairs from that so this has certainly added insult to injury,” he said.

“However, we have got a lot of things up and running early this time. We have the experience now to know what to do,” he said.

“This included support for isolated communities with barge and water taxi services which cover food deliveries this time round.”

“The Marlborough Recovery team are also working on a higher barge and water taxi subsidy for longer distances, scheduled runs and transport options for residents once they get to Picton or Havelock. New key barge entry points are also being considered.”

Enhanced Taskforce Green are already ‘on the ground,’ said Mr Heiford. “Last time it was two months before they got underway, so it is a real boon to get them started.”

Mr Heiford said the Marlborough Recovery team wanted to know what was working and what was not. “We are now on to the gnarly complex stuff especially with the farming and business communities.”

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