Westshore resident Alex Walker stands on top of the pea-metal bund. Photo / Linda Hall
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says a proposal by Westshore residents to use the Port of Napier’s dredgings to bring back the city’s largest sandy beach could actually work.
But there’s a big catch. It says it would take at least 15 years of commitment and could require an investment of close to $50 million.
Andy Walker is the man pushing for a change of focus from councils around how they manage the once thriving, but now rocky, Westshore Beach.
For 39 years, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Napier City Council have maintained a wall of pea metal to keep the sea from eroding away the beach as mother nature slowly took away the beloved beach’s sand.
Between 1987 and 2024, the bund was repaired 49 times, at a cost to the councils of $5.5m.
Between 2000 and 2024, the average cost per year of maintaining the wall, which is often smashed and broken by storm surge, was $144,000.
Walker, head of the Westshore, Napier and Bay View Residents Association, says the continuous and expensive battle is a waste of money.
“It’s basically a sacrificial barrier that is non-resilient and designed to erode in moderate to heavy swells and needs frequent and costly rebuilding,” Walker said.
Walker’s group has been working on a solution to coastal erosion at Westshore, alongside Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
He says the answer is sand and lots of it. It’s an idea that has been proposed in many forms before.
But it has one key difference to the plan in 2019 that Napier City Council pitched to the Government.
That was to use a cutting-edge sand engine to turn the rocky shoreline into a beach resort similar to Byron Bay in Australia.
Walker and his group’s plan, however, takes advantage of sand dredged by the Port of Napier.
Walker said it was time for change.
“We believe that despite years of stagnation, real change is now possible.”
The group researched sandy beaches around the world.
“We discovered things like the fact that sandy beaches are often either stable or growing right around the world.
“There is a worldwide study using Nasa maps which says 31% of the world’s beaches are sandy, and of those, 67 to 76% are in fact static or growing because sand moves and then nature replaces the sand.”
The group then discovered that, from next year, the Port of Napier would begin dredging shipping lanes annually, providing a consistent sand supply.
“At the moment, the port dredges 100,000 cubic metres of sand every two years. In winter 2027, it will start yearly dredging, providing a large net-gain of sand to rebuild the beach.”
He said the current resource consent allows sand to be placed in front of the Westshore Life Saving Club, and the result was that the beach north of Bay View was growing.
“It got knocked around a bit in Gabrielle, but effectively, that beach is in a state of what they call accretion, which means it grows.”
To get sand placed further south would require a new resource consent.
He said to get this would just be the beginning, and there was a lot more work to be done, including who paid for it.
However, he did not believe depositing already dredged sand would come with significant cost.
“If sand alone was enough, any costs would be related to maintaining the bund until it was no longer needed.
“Imagine having a beautiful sandy beach at Westshore for all of Hawke’s Bay residents and visitors to enjoy,” Walker said.
A spokesperson for HBRC said the plan could work, but it was a big and costly job and would take many years.
“Westshore is missing about 2 million cubic metres of sand in the area just offshore. Around 30,000 cubic metres washes away each year.
“If we placed about 140,000 cubic metres of sand each year, it would take around 14 years to rebuild what’s been lost.
“After that, we would still need to add at least 30,000 cubic metres every year to keep up with natural erosion.”
To do this properly, sand would need to be placed further south than where it’s currently allowed, requiring a new resource consent.
“Sand alone might not be enough. Other structures, such as extending the Whakarire revetment and possibly adding groynes, may also be needed to help hold the sand in place.”
The spokesperson said that before any big erosion protection work could happen at Westshore, its Coastal Strategy had to be finalised and funded.
“To get the amount of sand needed and to build the supporting structures, it would cost around $40-$50 million over at least 16 years, depending on the approach taken,” the spokesperson said.
While it was too early to know how work would be funded, the spokesperson said rates and general rates were options.
Regional council deputy chairman Jerf van Beek said he disputed the size of the figure his council was proposing.
“These figures are based on the full workings of the Coastal Hazard draft strategy proposal, which we as a working group are not required to solve.
“Through the Westshore community focus group, along with the council, we have found solutions that we feel are workable and affordable at Westshore,” van Beek said.
Walker would be presenting his group’s recommendations to the council in the next few months.
The regional council is seeking the public’s input on how the proposed Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy 2120 is funded.
This survey, on the council’s website, asks who should pay for the work needed and how. It closes on March 16.
The new strategy 2120 was developed by representatives from Tamatea Pōkai Whenua, Hastings District Council, Mana Ahuriri Trust, Napier City Council, Maungaharuru-Tangitu Trust, and the regional council.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.