Granity residents have been called to a surprise briefing after the Buller District Council commissioned a geological report on landslip risk following heavy rainfall in February.
They include the Northern Buller Museum, a site built in 1909 for receiving coal from the Millerton Plateau above.
Museum chairman Derek Lord described the report as scaremongering and said it would cause unnecessary stress in Granity, a small town northeast of Westport.
As far as the museum was concerned, they would just carry on.
"What are they going to tell us to do — close? We’re going to tell them to take a flying leap," Mr Lord said.
The report was "putting the fear of God" into the community unnecessarily about its future.
By Brendon McMahon
Mr Lord’s Torea St home of about 30 years was also affected by the slip report.
"They’re calling it a major weather event. It’s just the Coast rain. We get water spouts along here — it’s just the weather from the Tasman. It’s nothing new."
In February, 166mm of rain fell on Granity in 24 hours, causing several slips on the steep escarpment immediately above Granity and Ngakawau townships.
