From national strategy to regional delivery, Dr Deon Swiggs, Chair of the Canterbury Regional Council, Chair of LGNZ Regional Sector, and Resource Management Act Commissioner, explains why flood resilience demands partnership at scale.
When floodwaters surge, the difference between manageable disruption and catastrophic loss often comes down to infrastructure most of us never see: stop banks engineered to precise specifications, floodgates that operate when seconds count, and river management systems maintained over decades.
This infrastructure doesn’t just protect property; it enables communities to recover quicker and businesses to maintain confidence in our region’s resilience.
The tabling of our country’s first National Infrastructure Plan in Parliament represents a watershed moment for flood resilience. Developed by the Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga, this 30-year strategic framework finally places flood protection where it belongs – as foundational infrastructure that underpins economic productivity, community wellbeing, and climate/weather adaptation.
For regional councils that have long championed this investment approach, the Plan’s recognition that resilience assets must be planned, funded and delivered across regions and over decades, not electoral cycles, validates a philosophy the regional sector has been advancing for years.
The economic imperative
In Canterbury, the economic case for flood resilience investment is compelling by any infrastructure standard.
The region’s flood protection network spans 2,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, encompassing stop banks, floodgates, gravel management and drainage systems. With an estimated replacement value of $850 million, this network prevents approximately $9 billion in damage and lost income annually.
That represents a benefit-cost ratio of more than 10 to one, placing flood protection among the highest-returning infrastructure investment classes in New Zealand, significantly exceeding typical transport or energy infrastructure returns.
Every dollar invested protects people, maintains critical transport corridors and hospital access, and strengthens insurance system confidence by materially reducing catastrophic loss risk. These benefits cascade through households, businesses, and regional economies in ways that enable growth rather than merely protecting existing assets.
Insurance affordability, bank lending criteria and business investment decisions increasingly depend on demonstrated flood risk management. Our infrastructure maintains the risk profile that makes Canterbury insurable and investable, enabling economic development that might otherwise be constrained by climate/weather uncertainty.
Flooding remains our most frequent and costly natural hazard. Recent Earth Sciences NZ research shows over 750,000 of us live in locations exposed to one-in-100-year flood events, with approximately $235 billion worth of buildings at risk. Climate change is intensifying this exposure through more severe rainfall, rising river levels, and additional pressure on stressed catchments. The “do nothing” option has become the most expensive choice of all.
Proven Partnership: Regional expertise meets national strategy
Regional and Unitary Councils (Te Uru Kahika) has developed a mature, productive relationship with central government on resilience investments. This partnership demonstrates mutual respect grounded in recognition of technical expertise, catchment-scale delivery capability, and shared commitment to protecting communities and critical investments.
Recent government co-investment has accelerated significant flood resilience programmes around our country, enabling projects to be delivered sooner and at greater scale.
It has enabled us in Canterbury to improve our system, including strengthening stop banks on the Opihi and Pareora Rivers, managing vegetation on the Kowhai and Ashley Rakahuri Rivers, and undertaking critical floodgate work on the Waimakariri River and at Taranaki Creek.
These projects are protecting homes and marae, transport routes, productive farmland, and vital urban infrastructure.
Public mandate for this approach is overwhelming. Insurance Council data shows 87 per cent of us favour early action to protect communities from natural disasters, while recent polling on freshwater strategy recorded 77 per cent support for large-scale urban flood protection. This consistent public backing reflects pragmatic recognition: prevention is safer and more economically rational than post-disaster recovery.
Delivery continuity through reform
The Government’s Simplifying Local Government proposals represent the most substantial changes to local government since 1989, including replacing elected regional councillors with mayoral boards and developing regional reorganisation plans.
Whatever governance model Parliament adopts, flood resilience must remain a continuous, catchment-scale delivery function with clear accountability, secure funding, and strong technical capability.
Flood risk transcends district boundaries and electoral cycles. It requires management across whole river systems over decades by organisations with extensive engineering, environmental science, and community engagement expertise.
The alignment between the National Infrastructure Plan’s 30-year vision and Canterbury’s established programme represents exactly the strategic, cross-government collaboration we need for climate-weather adaptation. Regional councils’ technical capability in hydrology, river engineering, environmental science, and asset management cannot be easily reconstituted if dispersed.
Blueprint to Delivery
The National Infrastructure Plan provides essential strategic direction, but strategies don’t hold back floodwaters – engineered infrastructure does. The gap between a national vision and protected communities is bridged by funding, technical expertise, established relationships, and comprehensive catchment knowledge built over decades.
Regional councils represent our existing, scalable delivery mechanism for flood resilience infrastructure. Canterbury’s programme demonstrates this in practice with high-value assets delivering documented returns while maintaining community confidence and insurance affordability.
As negative climate impacts intensify, this delivery capability becomes a strategic national asset. Disrupting it through fragmented governance or institutional restructuring presents real financial risk to both communities and the Crown’s investment programme. We offer central government a proven route to market for resilience investment. We provide established systems, shovel-ready projects, and clear accountability.
We welcome the Infrastructure Plan’s long-term framework and government co-investment. We’re committed to making any governance model work effectively. But policymakers must ensure that while structures may change, the institutional capability that keeps New Zealand insurable, connected, and climate-resilient remains intact and empowered to deliver.