22 September 2023

Craig Jepson, Mayor, Kaipara District Council
1982
Moko Tepania, Mayor, Far North District Council
Vince Cocurullo, Mayor, Whangarei District Council
Tui Shortland, Chair, Northland Regional Council
Act

Tēnā koutou katoa
Cost-sharing for Future of Severely Affected Location responses to the North Island
Weather Events
I am writing to you regarding your region’s recovery from the severe North Island weather
events earlier this year.
Information
As you will be aware, central government has developed a Future of Severely Affected
Locations (FOSAL) programme. FOSAL is a programme led by local government, supported
by central government, to respond to intolerable risks to residential properties from future
weather events. These are properties that:
Official
•  are residential (or the residential parts of mixed-use properties); and
•  were significantly impacted by the North Island severe weather events earlier this
year; and
The
•  where people in those properties would face a risk to life from future severe weather
events.
For FOSAL category 2 properties, intolerable risk can be mitigated by a community or
property level intervention. For category 3 properties where there is no mitigation option,
Under
local authorities offer voluntary property buyouts. Category 1 properties do not require any
intervention.
The Crown has agreed to provide financial support to local government for their FOSAL
responses. You will have seen recent announcements about funding packages negotiated
with councils in the three most severely affected regions of Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti and
Auckland.
I want to provide you with clarity on central government’s position, should you identify
Released
properties that may require a FOSAL policy response.

Category 3 buyouts
Should you identify any properties where you wish to offer the owner a voluntary property
buyout, the Crown would be prepared to share 50% of the buyout cost, less any private
insurance or Earthquake Commission proceeds.
Following any buyout, the property would be owned by the local authority, which would be
responsible for subsequent demolition or site remediation costs, as well as decisions on
1982
future land use.
Any buyout cost-sharing agreement would need to be subject to local authorities providing
evidence of a robust risk assessment process and buyout methodology and would be Act
formalised in a binding funding agreement with the Crown.
If you are considering a voluntary buyout process, please contact Anna Wilson-Farrell,
Executive Director, Strategic Policy and Legislation in the Cyclone Recovery Unit to discuss
your approach. Anna can be contacted at [email address].
Category 2 risk mitigation projects
If you identify properties where intolerable risks can be mitigated by community or property
level interventions, you will be invited to provide information for specific projects that could
Information
be eligible to receive some funding from the Crown.
Any funding support for these projects would need to meet specific funding criteria and be
subject to a contestable and prioritised process.
If you have projects that you consider may have a case for central government support,
Official
please also contact the Cyclone Recovery Unit to discuss and to receive further information
on funding criteria and process.

The
Yours sincerely
Under

Hon Grant Robertson
Minister for Cyclone Recovery

cc
Jason Marris, Chief Executive, Kaipara District Council
Jill Coyle, Chief Executive, Far North District Council
Released
Jonathan Gibbard, Chief Executive, Northland Regional Council

Simon Weston, Chief Executive, Whangarei District Council
Katrina Casey, Chief Executive Cyclone Recovery

26 March 2024

Vince Cocorullo, Mayor, Whangarei District Council
1982
Geoff Crawford, Chair, Northland Regional Council
Craig Jepson, Mayor, Kaipara District Council
Act
Moko Tepania, Mayor, Far North District Council

Dear Mayors and Chair,

Since coming into office late last year, I have visited and spoken with the regions affected by
the North Island Weather Events in early 2023 and have heard a range of issues and concerns
that  communities  are  facing.  As  I  have  spoken  with  affected  homeowners,  I  have  heard
concerns about the uncertainty that some people are facing while they wait for categorisation
Information
of affected properties and potential property buyouts.

While I appreciate that not all regions were affected to the same degree, and not all councils
are  considering  formal  categorisation  or  buyouts,  it  is  still  vital  that  the  most  affected
homeowners have certainty about their housing situations and are enabled to move on with
their lives.
Official

In September 2023, the then Minister for Cyclone Recovery wrote to you to extend an offer to
share the cost of any voluntary Category 3 buyouts, should you choose to offer any. The terms
The
of this offer were that the Crown would meet 50% of the buyout cost, less any insurance and
EQC proceeds. This offer still stands.

There was no timeframe put on this offer when it was first made. However, now that we are
more than a year on from the severe weather events, my expectation is that any cost-sharing
and subsequent buyouts need to be completed as quickly as possible.
Under

I would like to know your intentions and timeframes should you go down this path. If you intend
to take up the Crown’s offer, I request that you provide me with an indication of your plans and
timeframes for categorisation and completing any buyouts, by the end of April.

I would invite you at the same time to identify any issues or barriers that may be preventing or
delaying decisions that would provide resolution for affected homeowners, and any potential
Released
solutions. My expectation is that councils should be looking at every possible option to speed
up these processes, and I would encourage you to discuss with me, or with my officials at the
Cyclone Recovery Unit, any ideas or proposals that would help to provide resolution sooner
and how we can work together to achieve these.

Finally,  I  would  like  to  confirm  that  the  scope  of  the  categorisation  framework  and  buyout
process is unchanged. It is limited to properties impacted by three specific events – Cyclones
Hale  and  Gabrielle,  and  the  Auckland  Anniversary floods.  The  government  will  not support
any  extension  of  this  scope  to  damage  caused,  or  exacerbated  by,  subsequent  weather
events.
We  all  share  the  same  concerns  about  the  impacts  on  your  affected  communities  and
understand the need to speed up the recovery. I look forward to working with you further to
progress this.
Yours sincerely,
Hon Mark Mitchell
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery
cc
Jonathan Gibbard, Chief Executive, Northland Regional Council
Guy Holroyd, Chief Executive, Far North District Council
Jason Marris, Chief Executive, Kaipara District Council
Simon Weston, Chief Executive, Whangarei District Council
Katrina Casey, Chief Executive, Cyclone Recovery
Under The Official Information Act 1982
Released

1982
Act
Information
Official
The
Under
Released

8 August 2024

Guy Holdroyd,
1982
Chief Executive,
Far North District Council
Act

Dear Guy,
Thank you for your letter of 5 July 2024 regarding your intention to carry out Future of
Severely Affected Locations (FOSAL) categorisation in the Far North District.
I support your efforts to provide solutions to property owners that may have experienced
significant impacts from the North Island Weather Events (NIWE) and who face an
intolerable risk to life from future events to relocate out of harm’s way.
To reiterate the points, I made in my letters of 26 March and 17 May 2024, the government’s
Information
focus is firmly on speeding up recovery processes and ensuring people have certainty. I
would strongly urge you to explore all possible avenues to speed up the timelines that you
have set out in your letter, and to work closely with my officials in the Cyclone Recovery Unit
(CRU) to discuss how this might be achieved.
I acknowledge the points you have raised relating to whenua Māori in the Far North and the
challenges that mean that categorisation may be ongoing into 2025.
Official
As you are aware, the Whenua Māori and Marae pathway is a Crown-led process, and
engagement with affected owners and residents is led by the CRU. The CRU is well
configured to be able to deliver on the Crown’s obligations in a credible way. The council’s
The
role is limited to the initial categorisation process. It is vital that this is carried out quickly and
effectively, with a clear understanding of the scope, and the limitations, of the pathway to
avoid raising unrealistic community expectations.
Given this, I ask that you work closely with the CRU to progress your approach to both the
general FOSAL and the Whenua Māori and Marae pathways. I have asked CRU officials to
Under
visit you in the Far North as a matter of priority, to discuss next steps.
Finally, I am setting out some of the key parameters regarding the FOSAL approach, so that
you have full clarity regarding the Crown’s position and requirements for cost-sharing
support.
Key FOSAL parameters for Crown cost-sharing funding
For properties to be eligible for Crown FOSAL funding, they must meet all the following
criteria. These are properties:
Released
•  that were in residential use at the time of the NIWE (or the residential parts of mixed-
use properties – non-residential parts of a property are not eligible); and
•  that were significantly impacted by the NIWE; and

•  where people in those properties would face an intolerable risk to life from future
severe weather events, which cannot feasibly be mitigated (Category 3).
There needs to be a robust categorisation methodology that underpins decisions on what
properties meet those criteria. The Crown needs to review this methodology before finalising
any cost-sharing agreement and may choose to commission expert advice to provide quality
assurance.
For your district, given the significant time that has elapsed since the weather events, the
Crown would require assurance that properties in question were significantly affected by
1982
those events themselves (rather than damaged by events since then, or by pre-existing or
gradual damage over time).
Act
You will also need to develop a FOSAL buyout policy, setting out the scope and processes
for offering buyouts. While delivery of the FOSAL approach is a locally led process, and you
are free to adopt a buyout policy that works best for your circumstances, the Crown’s
contribution is limited to what falls within a reasonable interpretation of FOSAL criteria. This
means that not all aspects of a council’s policy wil  necessarily be funded (or contributed to)
by the Crown.
I would expect that any buyout policy approach is consistent with other affected regions that
have already developed policies and are now implementing buyouts. This includes:
•  limiting eligibility for buyouts to properties that are legally established and consented;
Information
•  ensuring that the size of properties being completely bought out is limited to what can
reasonably be considered to be residential (other regions have applied 1 to 2 hectare
limits, above which they are mixed-use and only the residential portion is bought out);
•  providing clear time limits for property owners to engage in the buyout process and to
consider and accept buyout offers;
Official
•  ensuring that the status of insurance and EQC cover is clear and that any relevant
claims have been settled prior to a buyout; and
•  having a dispute resolution process.
The
Aside from the Crown’s 50% share of the buyout cost itself, and reasonable, capped
contributions for property owners’ legal or valuation costs (should the council decide to offer
contributions), all other costs are the responsibility of the council. This includes the council’s
internal costs (including the costs of developing and administering a buyout scheme, and the
council’s own legal costs) and the costs of demolition or otherwise remediating a property
Under
that the council has purchased as well as the cost of a dispute resolution process.
The Crown’s offer for cost-sharing relates only to Category 3 properties. Funding has been
provided to the Far North for risk mitigation initiatives relating to other properties through the
Local Government Flood Resilience Co-investment Fund, and I understand that these
projects are now well underway.
Funding for the Crown’s 50% cost share of buyouts wil  not be available after 30 June 2025.
The costs of any buyouts after that time would need to be 100% met by the council.
Released
Whenua Māori and Marae
If any of the Category 3 properties that you identify through categorisation are located on
whenua Māori, or are Marae, then they may be eligible for the Crown-led Whenua Māori and

Marae pathway. In this case, you would need to notify the CRU that you have formally
classified these properties as Category 3 – without this initial categorisation step by the
council, properties are not able to be considered for the pathway.
The Whenua Māori and Marae pathway provides support to enable affected owners and
residents to relocate out of harm’s way. Under the pathway, ownership of the whenua is
retained, but agreeing to relocate is a condition of any financial support. There is no funding
for measures designed to increase resilience on the existing site.
The council would be responsible for communicating the categorisation to whenua Māori
1982
owners, iwi and Marae Trustees should it consider any of the Marae or whenua Māori to be
Category 3. This will include advising that if such a categorisation is not successfully
challenged, that whenua owners and Marae will not be able to reside on the properties and
Act
must relocate. The council would be responsible for managing and funding a dispute
resolution process for any challenges to categorisation.
A number of Marae in Northland received funding through the Local Government Flood
Resilience Co-investment Fund in September 2023, for initiatives to reduce future flood risk.
As there has already been investment agreed for feasible risk mitigations for these Marae,
they cannot be considered as Category 3 for the purposes of FOSAL categorisation and be
in scope of the Whenua Māori and Marae pathway.
Anna Wilson-Farrell, Executive Director, Strategic Policy and Legislation, Cyclone Recovery
Unit will be in contact to make arrangements for CRU officials to visit and discuss these
Information
matters further.
I look forward to further updates as you progress with your categorisation and once again
urge you to proceed with speed given the time that has now elapsed since the events and
since the first invitation for the council to opt into this process with the Crown.

Official
Yours sincerely,

The

Hon Mark Mitchell
Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery
Under

CC:
Moko Tepania, Mayor, Far North District Council

Kelly Stratford, Deputy Mayor, Far North District Council
Katrina Casey, Chief Executive, Cyclone Recovery

Released

Document Outline