In a strange twist, the suggested option put forward in the initial 165-signature petition — to create a new permanent beach entrance at Reay Mackay Grove — won’t be among a list of preferred options that the council floats for public consultation.
For more than 50 years, through the goodwill of a private landowner, the sole public entrance to the beach is at the end of Manga Pirau St. But a river mouth prone to changing shape in wind and tide was more frequently preventing vehicle access at the entrance.
Some of that goodwill was eroded after a 2021 weather event blocked access and a member of the public took the liberty of creating their own access through the land, without consent, using heavy machinery.
Vehicle access to Waikawa Beach at the end of Manga Pirau St has always been granted through the goodwill of private landowners.
As recently as 2018, Horizons Regional Council had made “cuts” to redirect the mouth of the Waikawa Stream, but resource consent for such remedial action expired in 2020.
Horowhenua District Council met this week, triggered by the 2021 petition, to consider various potential beach access options it had sought and received from environmental consultants Boffa Miskell working with council staff.
Five options were identified. Council staff then sought a decision from elected members on which options to float for public consultation. The brief was to find a solution that ticked all the environmental, cultural, wellbeing and fiscal boxes.
Among the options considered was the potential for a new, permanent access through council-owned land in Reay MacKay Grove, although that option now seems off the table.
A series of HDC workshops held recently determined that Reay MacKay access options would probably trigger strong opposition from residents in that area of the settlement, and likely to be opposed by iwi due to the potential disruption of areas of high cultural significance.
A temporary sign at the end of Manga Pirau St explains, in plain Māori and English, what is required to maintain a healthy relationship with the landowners.
The two Manga Pirau St options were expected to be the cheapest and potentially carried the least disruption to beach and river environs and had Department of Conservation support.
One Manga Pirau St option involved a new unsealed track, but there was a risk it could be prone to damage in weather events. The second option involved using the existing track with some “river training” with river rocks or stone groynes installed and native vegetation planted to stabilise dunes.
The two options would require a formal lease agreement with the landowners at Manga Pirau St. Council has said the landowner had indicated a willingness to enter a formal lease agreement subject to satisfactory terms and conditions.
By far the most expensive option from Boffa Miskill was to build a new bridge with a starting estimated cost of $3.3 million, and with the likelihood of a high ecological disturbance — that option also appears to have been dropped.
A majority of councillors — with the exception of Sam Jennings and Alan Young — voted last week to include for public consultation a third option, to cease all vehicle access to the beach.
Jennings said he was “strongly opposed” to it even being considered because there was scant reference to it being an option in the council report.
Meanwhile, residents in the small Horowhenua beach community were understood to have mixed views about the public’s right to access the beach.
Some wanted to protect their right and the right of all people to access the beach with a vehicle for fishing and recreational activities, while there were others who believed vehicles polluted the beach and had a detrimental impact on dune flora and fauna, sea animals, and shellfish beds.
Aside from the recreational activities beach access provided, some residents were concerned about the need for permanent vehicle access to the beach in the event of an emergency.
Waikawa Beach has an estimated population of 180 people.
