Ashburton Courier: July 08, 2021

NEWS
2 Ashburton Courier, July 8, 2021
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Council to take reins of art gallery
Ashburton Art Gallery manager
Shirin Khosraviani has been
appointed the new director of the
gallery and museum.
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MICK.JENSEN
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Ashburton ArtGallery is set to
become acouncil­controlled
organisationand its manager has
been appointedtomanage
operationsatboththe gallery andat
Ashburton Museum.
At apublicexcluded meeting last
week Ashburtondistrict councillors
agreedthat acombined model was
the best wayforward and would
createacloser andmore connected
operating environmentfor both
facilities.
Currentart gallery managerShirin
Khosraviani has beenconfirmed as
the newdirector.
The museum hasbeen acouncilmanaged
operation since 2014,
whereas the art galleryhas been
managed as an independent
charitable entity, butisfunded by
Ashburton council.
The council chose not replace
formerAshburtonMuseum director
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5799
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Dr TanyaRobinson when sheleft 16
months ago and an acting manager
has been in therole since then.
Council consultedwithboth theart
gallery committee andAshburton
Historical Society over the merger
andisnow working on transitioning
the gallery into council and setting
up thenew combined structure.
AshburtonArt Gallerycommittee
presidentFleur Mulligansaid the
decision to amalgamate withcouncil
was an important milestone for the
gallery.
The committee felt the time was
right andsaw it as an opportunity to
help grow and shape art in the Mid
Canterbury community.
Council chief executiveHamish
Riach said anew deputy director
position wouldbecreated that had a
museum focus.
Therewas now also an opportunity
for the gallery andmuseum to open
at the same timeand to synchronise
operations,including programmes
andofferings,hesaid.
Major works needed post-flood
TONI.WILLIAMS
@ashburtoncourier.co.nz
There hasbeenalotofvolunteer
help given to farmers and
landowners with flood damage, but
there is still much to be done,
Environment Canterburycouncillor
Ian Mackenzie says.
Mr Mackenzie, who hasbeen out
inspecting flood damaged properties
Canterbury­wide, saidone month on
since theflooding of May 30 there
was still major infrastructure to be
repaired includingbridges,
irrigation ponds and fences.
Many who had land inundated with
shinglefrom redirected waters were
in need of diggers and dozers to
removeitand someofthe damage in
the hill country could take yearsto
fix or heal.
Although rivers had been made
safe for now,itwas atemporary
measure and aplan was being
developed“with someurgency” to
improve the damaged flood
protection infrastructure, he said.
“Landownershave been encouraged
to report anyconcerns about
weaknesses in theriverbanks to the
(ECan) engineeringteam,” he said.
An initial review of the
performanceofthe flood protections
infrastructure suggested it didwhat
it wasdesignedto do, Mr Mackenzie
said.
“Though this may be cold comfort
to those immediately below a
breach.”
Repairing abreach on the south branch of the Ashburton River.
The stopbanks protecting
Ashburtonand Tinwald were
designed for a1­in­200 year flood ­
which it was ­and theyheld, he said.
Most of the riverflooding followed
existing flood channels but, in a
couple of places, the riverbreached
stopbanks in unpredictable ways.
The breachnorth of theAshburton
River north bank ­towards the
Methven highway­was an exampleof
that, he said.
ECan has come under increasing
criticism over river management but
Mr Mackenzie said funding was a
factor. Shinglebuild­up in thenorth
branch had beenongoing for more
than 100years. Butfor many years
commercial interests removed
shingle from therivertomaintain
flood protectioncapacity.
In the past 10 to 15 years
alternative sourcesfor shingle, and
PHOTO SUPPLIED
easiertoaccess, had beenfound, and
there was less commercial interest to
remove sufficient shingle to keep the
river in apreferred state.
The river rating district would
need to fund another$1m peryeardouble
the existingbudget ­to
provide sufficient funds to remove
shingle build up.“The river rating
district, with some justification,
argued they couldn’t afford that,” he
said.
Aplanned workshop, meant to take
place in June, was set to review
funding options for theAshburton
River to findsolutions.
Historically the MinistryofWorks
funded asignificant amountofflood
protection infrastructure but this
stopped in 1989. Since then thevalue
of assetsprotected by floodbanks had
increased exponentially, Mr
Mackenzie said.
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