KEY POINTS:
Plans to build a controversial footbridge from a private condominium development over a state highway and onto a beach have resurfaced at Cable Bay in the Far North.
The project has been on hold since 2005 after the local community and iwi stopped contractors moving a digger and
material onto the beach to access a pile driving site.
The opponents said there had been no public consultation about the bridge and claimed it been designed mainly to allow buyers in a $50 million condominium complex to gain direct access to the beach from their hillside units above.
Construction stopped to allow more surveys and investigation into legal issues about road and esplanade reserve areas.
A spokesman for agencies involved in the project, Larry Eade, now says consents for are in place and there is "no legal impediment" to stop the construction.
A public meeting has been called in nearby Mangonui on Tuesday to discuss construction plans. Representatives of the Far North District and Northland Regional Councils, Transit NZ, contractors McBreen Jenkins Construction and condominium developers Crystal Waters will be at the meeting.
Consent for construction of the steel-framed footbridge above State Highway 10 at Cable Bay, 35km north east of Kaitaia, was approved by the Far North District Council in 2003 without public notification.
There was no prior public hearing or community consultation, and this fuelled protest meetings and direct action on the beach by residents whose numbers were boosted by members of local iwi Ngati Kahu.
The council says survey reports have been rechecked and the proposed bridge's footings and structure are all contained within Transit NZ road reserve.
This removes concerns that the bridge might encroach onto adjoining (district council) esplanade reserve, the council says.
Construction is expected to start next month and finish by the end of August.
Mr Eade said Crystal Waters will provide a public walkway through its property for residents of nearby streets, as well as those in the condominium, to access the footbridge.
The Cable Bay Beach Watch network aims to get feedback on the bridge relaunch at next week's public meeting.
A spokeswoman says its network had been "activated" after learning of a recent closed-door meeting of agencies involved in the project, including the police.
The network remained suspicious that the council had discovered "an error" during its "alleged rechecking of survey reports as opposed to a redefining of boundaries between the road and esplanade reserve".
This point was crucial to the legal status of the footbridge, the group says.