However, the Dunedin City Council indicated confidence a detailed plan would emerge next year.
South Dunedin Future programme manager Jonathan Rowe started his job in August and his report for next week’s council meeting highlighted a series of challenges.
The programme lacked clear objectives or alignment with other council strategies and plans, he said.
Many benefits that would flow from a ‘‘genuine’’ South Dunedin Future programme, such as operational and strategic efficiencies, had not yet been realised.
Roles and responsibilities of key contributors, as well as lines of accountability, were unclear.
The programme is marketed by the city council as a response to climate-driven challenges facing South Dunedin and ‘‘potentially resolving other issues such as poor-quality housing at the same time’’.
More than 10,000 people call South Dunedin home, but it was built on land reclaimed from a coastal wetland and it is vulnerable to hazards such as storm surges and flooding.
Rising sea levels and groundwater are expected to exacerbate challenges.
Mr Rowe’s position is funded by both the city council and Otago Regional Council.
‘‘While much work has been undertaken to enhance environmental monitoring and better understand natural hazards, there remain gaps in our knowledge of the natural coastal and groundwater processes,’’ he said.
‘‘How these complex natural processes interact with the built environment in and around South Dunedin, and the impact of climate change on these and other processes, also remains uncertain.’’
Projects such as the St Clair to St Kilda Coastal Plan had been successful.
‘‘However, in practice, most initiatives have operated as
loosely connected projects, rather than as a coherent programme of work with a clear strategic intent.’’
Mr Rowe said there appeared to be many different understandings of the scope and purpose of the programme.
Uncertainty about strategic intent had been a constraint for finding agreement about an overall programme mandate, structure and processes.
The programme had ‘‘struggled to fully establish and sustain momentum’’.
Efforts to co-ordinate between councils and across projects had focused on sharing information.
The regional council has sometimes pushed for joint governance of the programme with the city council, but no agreement has been reached about that.
Mr Rowe commented in his report it was ‘‘understood’’ representatives from both councils continued to discuss options for programme governance.
He was reporting in the meantime to an interim steering group made up of executive staff from both councils.
A detailed programme plan is to be provided to the councils in June next year.
