Community group members against sand mining gathered at WDC's Te Iwitahi council chambers. Photo / Susan Botting
Community group members against sand mining gathered at WDC's Te Iwitahi council chambers. Photo / Susan Botting
The Whangārei District Council is formally backing Bream Bay marine sand mining opponents in the face of the fast-track consent application process.
The council on Thursday unanimously voted to call on the Government to make sure the voices of Bream Bay Guardians, which include hapū Patuharakeke, were heard inany substantive fast-track application by McCallum Bros, which wants to take seabed sand offshore from the Whangārei coastline.
Bream Bay Guardians delivered a 14,500-signature petition to the Whangārei District Council (WDC) in May, seeking council support to bring community concerns to key Government ministers.
Community group representative Malcolm Morrison said the sand mining could directly affect the coastline from Marsden Point to Langs Beach, particularly including Mair Bank at Whangārei Harbour’s entrance and Ruakākā Beach.
Around 80 group sand mining opponents packed the WDC council chambers today.
Bream Bay Guardians representative Mary Sinclair said McCallum Bros had indicated it would lodge its substantive fast-track consent application before Christmas.
Sinclair said the group was concerned it would not be called on to submit to the expert panel appointed to consider any McCallum Bros sand mining application.
When approached for comment, McCallum Bros chief operating officer Shayne Elstob would not confirm whether the company was lodging its substantive application before Christmas, or the date for any potential application.
Sand mining opponents including Green list MP Hūhana Lyndon (cream hat) filled the Whangārei District Council chambers public gallery today. Photo / Susan Botting
A Government fast-track spokesperson confirmed that a substantive Bream Bay sand extraction project application from McCallum Bros had not been received at publication time.
Elstob said in response to the WDC meeting that the community was entitled to its views.
He said it was up to the fast-track panel to consider whether it would call on the group as part of consideration of any substantive application McCallum might or might not make.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop earlier allowed McCallum Bros the right to submit a substantive fast-track application before February 7, 2027.
Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper said it was important the voices of the community opposition group were heard as part of next steps under any Fast-track Approvals Amendment Act consent substantive application consideration.
Couper called on Government Ministers Bishop and Shane Jones to make sure this happened.
He said the council wanted to amplify the voices of the community, and it was taking a strong stand because the sand mining protesters represented a large part of its community.
Whangārei Deputy Mayor Scott McKenzie said changes to local government and regional councils meant the scope of current WDC and Northland Regional Council jurisdiction over the sand mining was likely evolving over time.
McKenzie said the council should be ready to comment if asked to do so by the expert panel considering a substantive seabed sand mining application.
Bream Bay Guardians representatives Malcolm Morrison and Mary Sinclair (left) talk seabed sand mining to councillors at the WDC's council meeting. Photo / Susan Botting
WDC Bream Bay councillor David Baldwin said the council’s support of the Bream Bay sand mining opponents was an opportunity to “draw a clear line in our sand” over the issue.
There was overwhelming community opposition to any fast-track proposal by McCallum Bros to mine more than 8 million cubic metres of sand at Te Ākau Bream Bay over 35 years, Baldwin said.
After the WDC meeting, attendee Green list MP Hūhana Lyndon praised the newly elected council’s stance for standing in solidarity with the community and hapū.
The non-replenishing sand off Bream Bay that McCallum Bros wants to extract originally comes from the North Island’s central plateau.
It was brought north to the sea by the Waikato River, which once flowed into the Firth of Thames.
Wave action then carried the sand further north to Pākiri and Mangawhai, where McCallum Bros has been extracting it for use as concrete to build features including Auckland’s Sky Tower.
Bream Bay is the northernmost deposit of that originally central plateau sand.
