Media Release: Resource Consent application lodged for Westport’s Floating Lagoon stopbank
Resource Consent application lodged for Westport’s Floating Lagoon stopbank
A Resource Consent application was lodged on Friday (13 March 2026) with West Coast Regional Council (WCRC) and Buller District Council (BDC) for the Floating Lagoon stopbank in Westport.
The Floating Lagoon area abuts the North End stopbank (closest to the northern tiphead) and will form part of the circle of physical flood protection around Westport.
The Floating Lagoon stopbank will be just over a kilometre in length. At its highest it will be about 3.5 metres, with a median height of 2.35 metres. At the base it will be 25-30 metres wide.
West Coast Regional Council Chief Engineer Peter Blackwood says this is a significant stopbank as it directly protects areas of Westport badly affected by flooding in 2021.
“More than two hundred properties in the near vicinity will be protected from the Buller River flooding by the installation of the Floating Lagoon stopbank, along with others further afield. Whilst all the sections of the stopbanks around Westport will combine to provide flood protection, this one is close to houses we know have been inundated before. This includes properties on Forbes, Derby, Salisbury, Gladstone, Romilly, Peel and Queen streets as well as some properties on Beach Drive.”
Mr Blackwood says the team has worked very hard to get to this point.
“We have identified some above and below ground contamination in the area. This will all be managed with a Site Management Plan. It can be encapsulated so doesn’t prevent the stopbank going ahead. In addition, we discovered some local skinks living in the area during the Environmental Assessment phase. We have been granted authority by Department of Conservation under the Wildlife Act to carefully trap and relocate the species in question.
“We have a stopbank that goes close to, but well clear of, existing properties, so we will be engaging with those property owners ahead of construction,” says Mr Blackwood.
West Coast Regional Council Buller Constituency representative Mark McIntyre is welcoming the development.
“This means that we now have three areas that are next in line for construction (Floating Lagoon, Avery’s and Upper Buller) covering a combined area around Westport of around four kilometres. In addition, the McKennas stopbank (700 metres) is complete and 2.4 kilometres of protection is planned for Carters Beach.
“A huge amount of planning and investigation goes into getting to this point and we welcome another step forward for the project,” says Mr McIntyre.
The Floating Lagoon stopbank forms part of the Resilient Westport, Flood Protection Scheme, being delivered by West Coast Regional Council (WCRC).
Once consent is granted, the contract will be put out to tender. The stopbank will take around four months to build.
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For further information please contact:
Resilient Westport Communications team