The site was closed to freedom campers in January. Photo / Mike Tweed
A cliffside lookout and freedom camping site at Whanganui’s Kai Iwi Beach has been closed permanently due to coastal erosion.
The Mowhanau lookout on Sunset Parade was closed to freedom campers on January 26, with consultants WSP completing a report on the site’s future.
Whanganui District Council regulatory and compliance operations manager Jason Shailer said the assessment found the area was no longer safe for public use.
“This will make sense to locals who know the area well,” he said.
“We’ve been keeping a close eye on erosion here and people’s safety comes first.”
The council said the closure applied to all vehicles accessing the clifftop area between the upper beach access walkway and a point about 110m northwest along Sunset Parade.
“Existing fencing is already in place along parts of the clifftop, with additional barriers to be installed approximately 10 metres back from the edge,” it said.
“Signs will be added to clearly mark the restricted area.”
Part of the loop turnaround area was also affected and the council was assessing whether it could be safely realigned or would need to be permanently closed, it said.
Whanganui Rural Community Board chairman Jack Bullock, who lives at Kai Iwi, said residents in the village were happy when the freedom camping site closed in January.
“The main reason for that was the rubbish they left behind – baby wipes, toilet paper and that kind of thing,” he said.
“They just get chucked in the bushes.”
Non-freedom campers had been living at the site and left even more rubbish, he said.
“We are going to have a walk-around this week with council officers and community members to identify areas where rocks that were put in place years ago need to be shuffled around a bit,” Bullock said.
“Some rocks and boulders have moved, and that’s allowed waves to scour out more of the cliffs.”
In 2023, council chief infrastructure officer Lance Kennedy said the Kai Iwi coast was retreating at a rate of about 30 to 50 metres per century, and rock revetments – barriers made of large rocks – had been placed along the length of the beach below Sunset Parade from the 1980s.
A coastal erosion hazard and risk assessment for Kai Iwi Beach by Tonkin & Taylor, completed for the council last year, said several assets within the settlement were potentially exposed to current erosion and/or slope instability.
They included Sunset Parade, the lookout and walkway, the surf lifesaving building and the seaward edge of the beach carpark, it said.
“If the existing toe protection [rock revetment] fails or is removed, then the likelihood and extent of exposure for the assets listed above increases through time.
“Other assets which may become exposed over time in the absence of the structure include wastewater lines and water lines along Sunset Parade, Broadview Heights and the Kai Iwi Beach access road, Broadview Heights, the toilet block and residential private property along Sunset Parade.”
Bullock said the rock revetment needed to be maintained yearly.
“There hasn’t been much investment in coastal erosion control and that has definitely exacerbated the issue.
“If we can slow it down, that’s a positive for everybody.”
Council chief strategy officer Sarah O’Hagan said $50,000 has been budgeted in the 2026-27 financial year for coastal action planning.
“But coastal protection and adaptation are very expensive and need to be considered as part of the council’s long-term planning,” she said.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.