![]() And it is certainly something he now regrets.Ä«irchfield is the longest current-serving local body politician on the West Coast, into his seventh term on the regional council - and for now, his second term as chairman. The dredge and the entanglement of its owner and West Coast Regional Council helmsman Allan Birchfield, through a deal brokered by the council's business arm VCS eight years ago, has unmoored him. Local Democracy Reporter Brendon McMahon got a tour of the mothballed dredge with Birchfield - before his own councillors signed a requisition to remove him as chairman. ![]() Since about 2013 the dredge has been idle, but its mere presence has caused a bit of a flap lately - and will potentially be the downfall of West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield. For more than 30 years it has floated amidst a riverscape dominated by the moody Paparoa Range to the west, and between the villages of Blackball and Ngahere on opposite sides of the river. ![]() The Grey Valley gold dredge sits like a giant bulwark in the Grey River. The 'bow' of the dredge complete with the improvised gangway to land, made out of flat-deck railway wagons joined together. ![]()
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