Call for volunteers to join Coastal Panels

Thames Coromandel District Council are seeking expressions of interest from local volunteers to join local Council Coastal panels. Establishing coastal panels is part of the Council's major coastal management project. The project defines flooding and erosion risks to people,  and the social, cultural, economic and natural environment across all parts of the Coromandel Peninsula coastline over the next century and beyond.

Coromandel Peninsula Coastal Management Project

At a recent meeting Council approved the process for Coastal Panels to be set up to cover our coastline in the following areas.

• Thames and Thames Coast
• Coromandel Town Coast to Kennedy Bay
• Whangapoua Harbour and Mercury Bay
• South-East Coast (including Tairua, Pauanui and Whangamata)

The purpose of coastal panels for the Coromandel Peninsula

Panels will work together to identify the risks on their local coasts and propose policies and actions to address these as they work through the development of the SMP for their area. The panels will have access to the relevant expertise required along the way and will be guided by a sequence of steps and key questions set out by the Ministry for the Environment which include:

• What is happening on the coast?
• What matters most?
• What can we do about it and how can we get it done?
• Is it working?

At the end of the process, panels will make recommendations to our Council on how its community can prepare for and adapt to coastal change.

“Coastal Panels will be the engine for our Shoreline Management Plan project, which is all about building resilient coastal communities. This is a critical new step in the project, and I look forward to our communities getting involved and working together to come up with community-led, coastal adaption solutions,”

Mayor Sandra Goudie, Thames Coromandel District Council.

Who can join the Council Coastal Panels?

Councillors from Thames Coromandel District Council and Waikato Regional Council will be invited to be observers on the panels. It’s intended that the panels will be balanced and representative of diverse views and of the community within the relevant SMP area. Panels will be advisory boards, made up of Community Board representatives, citizens, iwi, local businesses and asset owners, and it's intended they provide a fair and balanced representation of the relevant viewpoints about our coastal environment.

Each Coastal Panel will have a membership made up of:

• Mana whenua representatives (up to four)
• Community Board representatives (two members)
• Community organisations (two members)
• Citizens (up to six members)
• Businesses (two members)

How to get involved 

If you would like to get involved, download the expression of interest form for the panel you wish to join and email your completed form to the Council coastal team by the 11th June 2020. Nominations received will be considered by a strategic advisory group, who will identify a short-list of members. It is intended that final Coastal Panel membership will be endorsed by Council at the June 2020 meeting and that Coastal Panels will hold their first meetings in July.