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. 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. 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. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahonThe 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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