Simon O’Connor / Stuff
Stratford is Taranaki’s smallest district.
Short, torrential downpours have caused so much damage to Stratford’s rural roads that the county council is requesting a grant from Waka Kotahi to cover repair costs.
A report to the city’s Policy and Services Committee estimated the cost of repairing storm damage at up to $1.47 million, significantly more than the $296,000 budget for such damage.
Roading boss Stephen Bowden said that if the council failed to secure a grant from Waka Kotahi to fund the work, they would have to use money from existing budgets to repair the worst sites.
“This will affect the planned work for the next two to three years,” he said in the report.
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His report included photos of the damaged roads showing some where the sides had slipped, in some cases narrowing the width to one lane.
Mayor Neil Volzke said the municipality needed the grant from Waka Kotahi.
“If we don’t get external funding, this will create a future problem for a pre-existing problem.
“In fact, we would spend all our money repairing our roads instead of maintaining them.”
The report to councilors said that if nothing was done to repair the roads, they risked losing the roads or increasing the cost of repairing them.