Designs for a backstop wall at Ocean Beach Domain will be completed by the end of the year so they are ready to implement in the case of an emergency.
In 2012, Dunedin city councillors approved a plan to sink a backstop wall along the dunes behind the beach as part of long-term measures to mitigate coastal erosion on Ocean Beach Domain, which runs from the St Clair salt water pool to Lawyers Head.
The council has also approved the rollover of unspent emergency works budget funds each year so it could accumulate and be used to prepare an application to extend the present resource consent for emergency works in the area and to design the backstop wall.
Council parks manager Lisa Wheeler said the design work would be done this year, although it was not planned to start building the first section of the wall for at least 10 years.
''We want to have the plan in place so that if anything actually happens and it's more cost-effective to bring that forward, we'll know what we doing and how much it will cost.''
The council will this year apply to renew resource consents for emergency works in the area.
The council sets aside $250,000 for emergency coastal works each year.
