In the NZ town being eaten up by the sea, locals are unbothered: ‘It’s just weather’

Sunday, 22 December 2024

Granity on the West Coast of New Zealand is threatened by coastal erosion from the Tasman Sea.

A $3.6 million seawall was pledged by a previous Government, but the project has been labelled “a possible” by the new Government.

Locals have built their own seawalls to protect their homes, but still think the Government needs to protect the town’s unique heritage and character buildings.

Locals call their little town “paradise”, with beachfront bungalows with stunning views for less than $300k, native flora and fauna and even unique species. The catch?

It has the worst coastal erosion in the country. The local council has warned of flood and landslide risk.

The hardy locals brush this off as “scaremongering”, say “it’s just weather” and have come up with their own solution to protect their homes.

Granity, with a population of just 180, is one of the most remote small towns on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, 28km northeast of Westport on State Highway 67.

Coastal erosion is happening around New Zealand, but it’s the most brutal and relentless in Granity.

While it’s something locals have come to accept and live with, what is less certain is the town’s future.

A $3.6 million, 950m seawall to protect the town, pledged by Shane Jones in a previous Labour/NZ First Government, is at risk of being shelved by the current coalition Government, Stuff has learned.

NZTA, the government agency that looks after roading, says it’s the council’s job, not theirs.

“The funding for the Granity seawall was provided to NZTA to provide protection to the state highway only,” James Caygill, director regional relationships for NZTA in the Central and Southern South Island, told Stuff.

“It is not NZTA’s role to protect private property and the project scope did not specifically allow for this. This responsibility sits with the West Coast Regional Council and its associated rating districts, or individual private property owners as applicable.

“Granity’s coastal area is at risk of inundation and subsequent erosion in high seas – not sinking,” he said.

Once a bustling mining town, with more than three times the present population, Granity now has a beachy, bohemian vibe - home to artists, writers and nature lovers.

It’s a picturesque seaside town, with a stretch of colourful waterfront houses overlooking the wild Tasman sea - many are original 19th-century buildings. Heritage New Zealand says Granity is “the only settlement of its type in New Zealand, with its relatively undisturbed buildings and railway”.

The town has several grade two heritage-listed buildings, including the public library, school, church, mining offices and bandstand in the park.

It was given its name by gold prospectors, given the large quantity of granite in the area.

Now the granite reference applies more to its hardy residents, whose gritty nature sees them take wild weather, coastal erosion, flooding and landslides in their stride.

Many residents double up as volunteer firefighters, training every Monday night “rain or shine” to be prepared for what nature throws at them.

Longtime Granity locals are all too aware of coastal erosion from the Tasman sea moving ever closer to their homes, steadily eating up the shoreline for years, chewing at their backyards and even putting the town’s school at risk.

Yet there’s a sense of unbotheredness about the prospect of disappearing into the sea.

After a geological report found two dozen residences in a “high risk zone” for landslides, the Buller District Council, which commissioned the report, said it would be “distressing” for residents.

The residents couldn’t have been less worried.

Derek Lord, who had lived on Torea St near the beach for more than 30 years, called it council “scaremongering”.

“They're calling it a major weather event. It's just West Coast rain. We get water spouts along here – it's just the weather from the Tasman. It's nothing new.”

Lord runs the town’s museum, which is getting a makeover from Heritage NZ, with a new walking trail and restoration of the railway between Granity and Millerton, to tell the story of New Zealand’s coal production on the coast.

Lord says Granity has its own microclimate, dry and warm in the summer, explaining the abundance of native plants and bush.

The town is getting a lot of interest from Aucklanders, he says.

“One came to look at it, and a few weeks later his friend did too, saying the first man said, ‘You have to see this place.’”

Everyone knows who everyone is, and who lives where, he says,

“But if you want to keep to yourself, that is respected, too.”

Lord is amused at questions about how they get their food, and if they have wifi.

“We are not boonies in the boondocks. Westport is a short drive away, where’s there’s a New World. They even deliver here - how about that? We are not out in the bush with no power. Tonight I am having steak and mushrooms.”

The wifi is “pretty unreliable”, he admits, “but that doesn’t put the young ones off - they’ve got Starlink.”

There is no Uber Eats.

“We have pot luck dinners though.”

Lord says the Government needs protect the town as an important part of the country’s heritage and tourism.

The seawall that Shane Jones promised Granity

There are plans for a $3.6m, 950m-long seawall to protect the West Coast's SH67 between Granity and Ngakawau.

Although the plan is still listed in NZTA projects, it is not certain if it will go ahead, despite the design and resource consent having been already processed.

The project was pledged by the previous Labour and NZ First coalition government, as part of its Regional Economic Development funding, with $18.6m earmarked for the West Coast in 2020, as announced by Shane Jones as the regional economic development minister at that time.

The Ngakawau River Bridge abutments have been in place for two years to protect the bridge, and designs and resource consents have been progressed for the seawall.

The project is still listed in the NZTA State Highway Investment Proposal 2024 – 2034, but after Stuff inquiries about when it will be built, it was revealed that the project’s future is uncertain..

“While design work and site investigations at Granity are continuing, construction of the project has been included in the National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) as a ‘possible’ activity only,” said James Caygill, NZTA director regional relationships.

“The project’s ‘possible’ status means it can only be considered for funding if higher priority projects are delayed and/or cost-savings occur or there is an increase in National Land Transport Fund revenue.”

When Stuff approached Transport Minister Simeon Brown for clarification, NZTA came back with a stronger response about the seawall.

“Due to delays in consenting, previously allocated funding was redistributed to other projects that could progress. The project has not been ‘shelved’, rather funding has not been reconfirmed in the current 2024-27 funding block, given overall Government Policy Statement priorities.

“A 1.5m sand bund has been in place next to the highway for many years as an interim measure of highway protection. It is doing an adequate job of protecting the highway in the meantime and the 14 or so properties on the other side of the highway also benefit from this.

“Construction of the seawall remains on NZTA’s medium-term list and we continue to work through the resource consent process to ensure that when funding does become available, we are able to proceed with work as quickly as possible.”

The sea may be rising, but so are Granity’s house prices

Even though the sea is rising, so are Granity’s house prices. Its median house price has increased 50% over five years, according to Corelogic data.

Its latest median value is $268,877, which, while down 7% from November 2023, is by no means the biggest loser in a “challenging” year for property with national property values declining 5% since February, according to CoreLogic hedonic Home Value Index.

Even with the increase of 50% over five years, houses in Granity are still very affordable, and offer a beach lifestyle at a price unthinkable in the rest of New Zealand.

The town’s uncertain future is not putting off buyers. In 2024, sales included a 19th-century two-bedroom house which only took four days to sell for $130,000, and two three-bedroom houses on full sections for $270,000 and $300,000.

In December, there are nine properties for sale, all on Granity’s coastal road, Torea St, which runs parallel to the beach.

The houses are in an idyllic native bush setting on the waterfront, and include character bungalows, Kiwiana baches, cute cottages and family homes. “Elevated” is an often-used word in agents’ descriptions.

Five of them are under $300,000.

The cheapest is an elevated 552sqm section with sea views for just $100,000.

Even the highest priced, “a beachside resort” at $550,000, is still almost half the average NZ property price. For that you get “stunning sea views”, a fully fenced 1340sqm landscaped section, outdoor entertaining area, vege garden, double garage and outbuildings, and a three double-bedroom, freshly painted and insulated home.

Simon Rooke moved to Granity 10 years ago and loved the town and its houses so much, he bought three.

Rooke runs the Ghost Lodge, a hotel offering holiday accommodation, complete with wood-fired hot tubs and a sauna.

“You can watch the magical West Coast sunsets from the hot tub. The visitors here are just amazed. It really is a wee bit of paradise.”

He wouldn’t live anywhere else but on the waterfront, and says the erosion is not a problem now that more people have added their own rock seawalls to their homes.

“That seawall planned by the Government, it was more to protect the road, not the houses. Yes, the coastal erosion was an issue about 10 years ago and did reach into backyards, but now most houses have their own seawalls. There is a quarry nearby, and they are only around $10,000 to put up.”

He agrees with fellow resident Lord that the council is scaremongering over floods and landslides.

“People have a perception of West Coast weather that it is always raining, but that is not the case. There is much less rain in Granity than there was 20 years ago.

“I probably watch the beach more than most as I walk 10km every day on it with the dogs, and rain actually drains into the sea.”

Residents are pushing back against a rezoning of the area as a flood zone, because that would affect insurance.

“The landslide we had a few years ago did affect one house, but that was a one-in-200-year event. There are always going to be extreme events - you could say that houses all around the country could be at risk of flooding and landslides in a very extreme weather event. People are not going to leave New Zealand because of that risk, are they.

“Here, in Granity, we are not worried. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it’s windy, sometimes it’s a bit wild, in summer it’s beautiful. To us, it’s just weather and it doesn’t take away anything from the paradise where we live. It’s the best spot on the West Coast.”