Horizons Regional Council asked to get proactive on Whanganui coast

Ruth Tidemann (right) wants vehicles kept off the Castlecliff reserve and dunes. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui resident Ruth Tidemann has asked Horizons Regional Council to stop giving Whanganui District Council consent to "groom" Castlecliff Beach every summer.

Tidemann is a member of Castlecliff Coast Care and a Te Pūwaha consultation group for the Whanganui port development, and instigated Castlecliff Kōrero in 2018. She presented her submission on Horizons' long-term plan to regional councillors in the Whanganui War Memorial Centre on Tuesday.

Whanganui's bylaws to protect the coastal dunes and reserve were not being enforced by the council, she said. Motorbikes, quad bikes and other vehicles drove around in dunes and police had no vehicles suitable for chasing and catching them.

A 2018 petition to the council asking for a vehicle ban was signed by 400 people. It resulted in a speed limit of 30km/h at the beach.

"It had no impact on the destruction," Tidemann said.

Dune plants were tough and held onto sand and provided habitat for birds and other creatures, but were very sensitive to damage by vehicles, she said. The planting Castlecliff Coast Care had been doing since 2005 was being destroyed.

Some vehicle drivers dumped rubbish at the coast, and the way they were driven could be unsafe for the riders and for other beach users.

Tidemann said Aunty Kathy Tahau had told her the first vehicles to ride around on dunes were dirt bikes in the 1950s and 60s, followed by quad bikes in the 1970s.

They had been destroying the coastal environment for 50 years, Tidemann said. She saw 40 out on Anzac Weekend.

Grooming Castlecliff Beach every summer cost the Whanganui council $50,000, a councillor said during the Coastal Restoration Trust conference this year.

In the grooming, sand and driftwood are pushed out of the way or into the sea by heavy machinery, leaving a flat stretch of sand at the Castlecliff Surf Club.

The grooming prevented the formation of a natural vegetated dune that would capture windblown sand, Tidemann said.

"Please stop giving consent for the grooming of the beach."

Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall has been contacted for comment.