Westland mayor welcomes Waiho River rebuild

The West Coast Regional Council has made an apparent u-turn and decided it will rebuild the Waiho River stopbank which was destroyed in flooding two weeks ago. Last month's storm cut power, closed roads and destroyed the Waiho Bridge which links Franz Josef to Fox Glacier. The council had favoured removing the stopbanks and letting the river revert to its natural path, potentially putting thousands of hectares of farmland at risk of flooding. Bruce Smith is the mayor of Westland. He talks to Susie Ferguson.