{"id":515070,"date":"2026-07-08T02:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/515070\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:16:20","slug":"tasman-council-urged-to-get-real-on-rivers-to-mitigate-floods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/515070\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasman council urged to ‘get real’ on rivers to mitigate floods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring Grove resident Rose Renton would rather be gardening, but instead she has found herself leading a campaign against Tasman District Council\u2019s river management policies.<\/p>\n

By Max Frethey for Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a massive regional issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her home was flooded in both the June and July 2025 floods. She lost a cat, two vehicles, and everything else in her house that was kept below hip height, and now suffers from rain anxiety.<\/p>\n

\"Rose<\/p>\n

Rose Renton said inadequate management of waterways and culverts was exacerbating flooding across Tasman. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Following the floods, she launched her “Get Real on Rivers” petition that urged the council to undertake more proactive river management practices to better protect the community. <\/p>\n

Renton wanted to see more gravel extraction, better-maintained stopbanks and culverts, speedier responses to recovery and upgrade works, prioritisation of local knowledge, and greater clarity about how residents can conduct their own river management works. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll rivers and catchments need maintenance, and the system that they\u2019re currently working with isn\u2019t working\u2026 If work isn\u2019t done, our properties and, sadly, lives will be lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hundreds<\/p>\n

Hundreds of residents were impacted in last year’s floods and community concerns about river management remain prominent. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

She briefly stepped back from her advocacy due to the stress of it and her own flood recovery, but she recommitted herself following the smaller-scale flooding during this year\u2019s King\u2019s Birthday weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t flood, but what it did trigger is \u2018I\u2019m still unsafe. I could be back at square one. My property value will erode, and the walls are coming in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

‘We want some results’<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Rose Renton has been hosting community meetings with concerned residents across the district. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Renton has put on several community meetings for concerned residents, such as in Wakefield and Tapawera, with later ones planned for Riwaka and Upper Moutere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite overwhelming. The emotion in the room\u2026 was significant and moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that she has spoken with hundreds of residents and expected to eventually connect with thousands. Her Change.org petition now has more than 1,170 verified signatures.<\/p>\n

Renton presented to the council last Thursday, claiming that the organisation\u2019s river management decisions were callous, negligent, and \u201cgrossly inadequate\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Rose<\/p>\n

Rose Renton and supporters attended last week\u2019s Tasman District Council meeting to demand better river management. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

\u201cYour policies are harming our communities,\u201d she told elected members.<\/p>\n

Once her river meetings were completed, Renton intended to form an incorporated society to legally challenge the council\u2019s practices if it did not start making improvements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want some results. We\u2019re sick of empty promises, and we\u2019re sick of being ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

No simple solutions \u2013 mayor<\/p>\n

\"Mayor<\/p>\n

Mayor Tim King said the council would do what it could, but there were no simple solutions that would protect every property. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Mayor Tim King said the council could mitigate flood events but it was an \u201cunavoidable fact\u201d that some people would be impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as I\u2019d love to give people assurance that we can solve all these issues and that there\u2019s simple solutions, there aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the council\u2019s role was largely to provide information about what people could do on their properties without a consent, and guidance on consent processes \u2013 something he acknowledged the organisation could do better \u2013 and to manage future flood risk.<\/p>\n

However, the council only managed \u201ca pretty small percentage\u201d of Tasman\u2019s many waterways, and it was the unmanaged ones that had seen much of the damage in last winter\u2019s floods and over King\u2019s Birthday weekend. <\/p>\n

It was important people understood the risks when buying property, but King added that there was little the council could do for those who currently occupied flood-prone properties.<\/p>\n

\u201cA limited amount anyone can do, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district’s river management was a constant point of tension, with some urging greater action and intervention while others were concerned about the extent of its river works, he said.<\/p>\n

River rating review<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The district’s river rating system, which funds river management works, is being reviewed and could change which rivers receive flood mitigation works. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Tasman\u2019s decades-old rating system, which funds river management works, was now being reviewed, with the council examining local rivers and catchments, comparing their size, activity, population, land use, economic activity, and infrastructure, before using that information to consider what the council could feasibly do and afford.<\/p>\n

The community will have extensive input, but King warned that ratepayers could not fund management of all waterways. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe current system isn\u2019t perfect, but to come up with a better system is certainly not straightforward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you review rating systems\u2026 there tends to be winners and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Arseneau, the council\u2019s rivers and natural hazards manager, said the 2025 floods were \u201cgeneration-defining\u201d and had shocked the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale was unprecedented for us\u2026 In some of these areas, there is no going back to the way that it was before.\u201d <\/p>\n

River works complicated, but progressing<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The council has conducted extensive works within rivers to respond to last winter’s floods, but more damage was caused over this year’s King’s Birthday weekend. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

After the 2025 floods, the council had realigned entire rivers after they shifted, built rock walls, planted willows, and repaired stopbanks, but King\u2019s Birthday weekend set the recovery programme back with \u201ca couple million dollars\u201d in new damage.<\/p>\n

He reluctantly described council\u2019s current river management framework as \u201ccomplicated\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels so trite\u2026 because there are uncomplicated parts of it, but it\u2019s the system as a whole that is complicated.\u201d <\/p>\n

River works could have implications both up and downstream, so it was important that projects were done right, but that meant it often took longer to begin than people expected. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere needs to be a process and some checks and balances\u2026 but I certainly believe it could be easier and simpler.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the council\u2019s approach to gravel extraction was not \u201cideological\u201d and that more had been extracted this year than the year prior, but said council was required to maintain certain riverbed levels and that extraction could be limited when there was no commercial interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I can [extract gravel], I will, as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arseneau said that the council was constantly balancing flood response and proactive protection and, despite the recent devastation, the floods provided an opportunity to rethink what river corridors should look like to prevent future floods. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all wanting to go in the same direction. It doesn\u2019t always feel like it, but I genuinely want the best for the people that live along the rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring Grove resident Rose Renton would rather be gardening, but instead she has found herself leading a campaign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147,2224],"class_list":["post-515070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-tasman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}