A cost of about $12 million to complete flood protection works on Lindsay Creek cannot be justified, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said.
Mr Woodhead was speaking after an engineering and hazards committee yesterday considered a report outlining an alternative implementation strategy for the Leith Lindsay flood protection scheme in light of increasing costs.
The report outlined how the hazard mitigation works proposed for the Lindsay Creek were a "more difficult proposition" due to access issues and that the ratio of benefit relative to construction cost was low, with little opportunity for the same sorts of simplifications proposed for the Water of Leith.
Mr Woodhead said finding a practical, cost-effective way to manage the flood hazard in the small creek would be a challenge.
Residents needed to be asked what they were prepared to live with and what cost they were prepared to pay, he said.
"I cannot justify $8 [million] to $12 million on Lindsay Creek. We need to see what the community thinks and have a number of options available to them, I believe."
Cr Bryan Scott said in the committee meeting the implementation plan suggested the Lindsay Creek work would cost about $12 million of the $42 million scheme cost.
It would only protect about 60 properties, which was a potential cost of $20,000 per property, he said.
"Yes, it's expensive but I don't believe we should treat Lindsay Creek residents as second-class citizens. They deserve the same protection. The challenge is to get the government contribution similar."
Cr Trevor Kempton said he understood the major effect of flooding in the area was ponding and surface flooding for relatively short periods.
Another way of looking at it could be how the council could better mitigate the effect of flooding rather than the flooding itself, he said.
Councillors needed a clearer idea of the effect of the hazard on Northeast Valley so they could then determine if another proposal to mitigate the effect was needed, he said.
A report outlining a scheme funding model would be presented at the full council meeting on February 9.
