Master Planning for Westport: ‘If not now, then when?’

A Master Planning process being undertaken to guide Westport’s future growth and development has been described as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity by the Buller District Council and has been gaining national media attention.

TVNZ chief correspondent John Campbell’s piece on Westport’s Master Planning journey went to air in November 2024, as part of a series tagged as the Small Town Survival Guide. He spoke to a wide variety of people including landscape and urban design professionals from Isthmus, project lead Paul Zaanen, people who attended Master Planning workshops, as well as people on the street.

Reflecting on the flooding that affects Westport, Campbell commented: “I feel like Westport could be world-leading in their climate change response; they could be a template for flood-prone communities. Jamie Cleine, the Buller Mayor, is a dairy farmer who understands the land and what climate change will do to it. He, and everyone I spoke to said, ‘if not us then who? If not now then when?’”

On its Q+A programme TVNZ also screened a related interview with Professor Nicholas Pinter, an expert on managed retreat from flooding risks.

In a media release at the time Mayor Jamie Cleine made an observation that while Westport’s flooding woes were national news in 2021 and 2022 “it is easy for us to be forgotten as time goes on and other issues come to the forefront, but [meanwhile] our community is still living with the consequences of those events”. He backed the need for an “intergenerational process to address risk or our community will continue to be stuck in a ‘knock it down rebuild it’ cycle”.

Project lead Paul Zaanen added: “For me, and the Isthmus team who are spearheading this work … we have tried hard to make sure this process stays true to the people of Westport”.

The Isthmus team on this Master Planning project has included: Helen Kerr - Principal, Landscape Architecture; Ivy Llanera - Senior Landscape Architect; Brad Ward – Associate Urban Designer; Tom Holden - Senior Architect & Urban Designer; Iris Gramegna - Senior Urban Designer; and David Irwin – Founding Principal.

As emphasised by Isthmus many of our “towns, cities and communities in Aotearoa are grappling with the effects of increasingly frequent and severe climatic events and natural hazards, made even more real in coastal and regional places struggling for economic survival.

“As discovered in Westport, a regenerative and place-based design approach with the community can accelerate adaptation planning and unlock a prosperous, healthy future in a changing environment. The Westport Master Plan represents a journey for this community from fear and uncertainty to action based on hope, choice, and opportunity”.

At the beginning of this month The Press published an interesting article about the vocabulary used to help flip the perspective away from despair and having no options.

Isthmus principals Helen Kerr and David Irwin both spoke with Stuff journalist Joanne Naish about the importance of language.

Helen: “A lot of this has been about finding the right language and also what the wrong language might be... ‘Managed retreat’ is not a [term] we’re using at all in this process. It’s not even really a thing, there’s no precedent for it. We use ‘relocation’ instead of ‘managed retreat’, for example - so, swapping words out. ‘Hope’ not ‘risk’, ‘choice’ not ‘solution’, ‘adaptation’ not ‘resilience’. These are all things we learned along the way. ‘Change’, not ‘climate change’, and ‘growth’, not ‘development’.”

David: “We really haven’t done this before where the words have been such a big deal… It’s not like we’ve got a whole lot of climate deniers, it’s just you say that and the next minute you’ve got an argument that you didn’t need to have. It’s not smoke and mirrors. We’re not hiding anything through using different words. We’re just removing the debate that isn’t actually the point.”

The Master Planning Process

Key elements for the Master Planning process included Hazard Mapping, Participatory Design and a Conceptual Framework.

Key points made by Isthmus include:

The Master Plan is part of a multi-tool adaptation approach known as the PARA framework – incorporating elements of Protect, Avoid, Retreat and Accommodate. Master Planning is also much wider than a hazard response. It looks at intergenerational strategies to uplift the wellbeing and growth of the region through community, public and private sector partnership. It is not a plan to move the town in one go, but rather a staged strategy to grow a new town on safe high ground and attract investment. This enables relocation over time, while supporting the role of Westport as an important port and service hub on the West Coast.
The participatory design workshops included the idea of “being a good ancestor”, a lens which allowed us to look beyond where we are today, and then consider how the decisions we make today will impact on the future. Through asking what this will mean to our children and our children’s children, the people of Westport have been able to cut their own track.
Alongside a shift in mindset the plan promotes a conceptual framework of viable solutions and fundamental actions around which four fundamental flexible parts can evolve over time—The Westport Way; Development Strategies; Adaptive Anchors; and Empowering Champions.
- The Westport Way is an exploration of the past, present and future patterns of settlement in the Buller District and Westport itself. By drawing on the knowledge of a landscape shaped by water we gain powerful insights into the identity of this place and how it has influenced the community. Water defines the diversity of landscapes—from Pakihi soils and coastal rainforest, to lagoons, dunes and fertile riverplain. Within this vast and remote landscape, connected settlements have formed each with their own character, capacity to grow, and limitations to that growth.
- Development Strategies are important for actioning the plan and making sure it is done the Westport Way, regardless of whether change is fast or slow, big or small. Development strategies describe actions to evolve, adapt and grow in response to change, once it has been acknowledged that change needs to happen.
- Adaptive Anchors ensure that the process of growing a new town is balanced with ensuring that existing Westport thrives. Early adopters for a future new town could well be those with strategic importance such as civil defence or a school moving to the site, or perhaps a destination facility for events or sports—the community can then see others investing in the place and confidence will grow. At the same time, Westport’s main street needs to continue to operate for as long as it can, and the existing port needs investment to become more resilient.
- Empowering Champions. The participatory design process has generated positive discussion about how to not only cope with change, but own it, and harness its momentum to create a better future. Offering hope and choice means finding a way to equitably create opportunity and prosperity for everyone. This is the rising tide that lifts all boats. To maintain momentum it is critical that there is continuing meaningful and collaborative conversation with community leaders – which include our youth. Each community voice that sees a positive future for the town is a champion for change.

Isthmus is confident the Westport Concept Framework will continue to evolve as public engagement expands to include the wider community. “It is flexible enough to adapt to changes over time, with enough grounding and momentum to know what we need to do next, to secure seed funding and continue into spatial planning and delivery. In the next couple of decades, we can grow a new town that doesn’t compete with Westport – by enabling things that don’t exist yet. These things add value to Westport as a destination and promote economic growth”.

The Master Planning Concept Plan is due for completion in the first quarter of 2025. It will require approval by the Buller District Council.

The final stage of the Master Planning process will be the implementation plan. A number of mechanisms can be used to implement the Master Plan, including legislation, land-use change applications and other mechanisms to assist in the delivery of the plan over time.