200 tonnes of sand to be dumped on Wellington beaches

File photo / Mark MItchell

Over 200 tonnes of sand will be brought up from the South Island and spread between two popular Wellington beaches this month.

To maintain the quality and size of the dry sand area on Freyberg and Oriental Beaches, near Wellington's central city, 2400 tonnes of sand would be trucked onto the beaches over six days this month to bring them back to their original sand levels, the Wellington City Council said.

The council said since Oriental Bay beach was developed in 2002, it had lost more than 120 cubic metres of sand each year, due to natural processes such as weather and wave action.

Although the sand was spread out each year, this was the first time that new sand had been shipped in.

As part of the development sand would be transported from a Dunedin quarry by rail to Wellington, and would then be delivered by truck to Freyberg beach.

Around 20 truckloads of sand will be delivered each day, the council said.

While the work was carried out there was likely to be some disruption to the Freyberg carpark, and access to the beach would be restricted at certain times due to safety reasons.

The council would have traffic controls in place to manage truck movements and minimise impact to the carpark and road users.

Wellington City Council's acting parks sport and recreation manager Julian Todd said whatever the weather, Wellingtonians enjoy spending time on Freyberg and Oriental Bay beaches all year round.

"To ensure they have a great experience, it's important for sand levels to be maintained," he said.

The project will cost $400,000.