Letter: Boating club implores council not to go ahead with Beach Rd boat ramp concept

The eroding cliff at Katikati Beach Rd’s boat ramp area.

I must take issue with Jason Crummer’s reasoning regarding the Beach Rd development.

He went on to give reasons like uncertainty of resource consents. There is no such thing as a certainty of resource consents. You actually have to ask for one.

As for Mr Crummer saying that it could temporarily or permanently stop access by the local hapū to Tutaetaka Island ... our call for a geomorphologist to address the erosion of the cliff was primarily to guarantee access into the future. If the council doesn’t take this problem seriously, then the only certainty is that this access will one day not exist.

Some council staff must realise this because in the past five years the light pole has been moved back twice. Why do Mr Crummer and staff think that replanting the clifftop will stop the erosion? All it will do is stop the users of our new waterside park from seeing the water.

Readers, next time you walk along this popular walkway, have a look over the bank at the dead trees. They were once a row of huge macrocarpas planted, and according to the original farmer, 20m from the cliff edge (he was part of our working bee that built the boat ramp).

Please councillors, don’t allow this concept to go ahead as it is. Our club has already stated it could help financially, but we weren’t even included in the conversation.

Don Wallis

Katikati Boating Club