Click photo to enlarge
New rules being considered by the Dunedin City Council aim
to provide greater protection for the city's beaches and
coastal reserves from erosion and other threats. Inspecting
the debris-ridden Middle beach in Dunedin in 2007 are (from
left) coastal consultant Derek Todd, council parks officer
Mark Ross, council community and recreation services
manager Mick Reece and Octa Associates director David
O'Malley. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Eleven of Dunedin's coastal reserves look set to be given
new protected status, at the expense of some recreational
rights, in an effort to protect vulnerable sand dune systems.
The move would see coastal reserves next to beaches at Long
Beach, Ocean View, Warrington and Karitane, and seven other
locations, reclassified.
Under the Reserves Act 1977, local authorities were required
to classify the primary use of the reserves they owned.
However, councillors at yesterday's community development
committee meeting voted to approve the reclassification of 11
coastal reserves around the city from recreational areas to
"local purpose (coastal protection)" zones.
Subject to final approval at the next full council meeting in
August, the changes would become part of the council's draft
Coastal Dune Reserves Management Plan, due to be released for
public consultation in October.
The new plan laid out the future rules governing work to
protect dunes at Dunedin beaches.
Community and recreation services manager Mick Reece said,
when contacted, yesterday changes in the reserves' status
recognised the importance of protecting the coastal
environment from flooding, erosion and other threats.
"You can't recreate if the dunes disappear and you are
inundated, so the primary driver for managing the reserves
should be coastal protection," he said.
Council staff would have greater control over access to the
reserves, while recreation became "a secondary use", a report
by council staff said. However, recreational rights would be
maintained where they were compatible with the new emphasis
on protection.
The new rules could lead to more fencing and other
restrictions on informal tracks cutting through dunes to
beaches, with public access "funnelled" into maintained beach
access, he believed.
More "one-on-one" talks between the council and private
landowners could also be required, where properties had crept
on to council reserves over time, he said.
"There's a whole lot of issues in some of those areas," he
said.
The council's move followed concerns expressed by Ken
Robertson, the 79-year-old horse trainer who last month said
he had been forced to quit running horses on Ocean View beach
after 56 years of daily training.
He blamed a new council fence, being built to protect coastal
dunes, which blocked his informal track to the beach.
Yesterday, Mr Reece acknowledged some people would oppose the
changes, arguing recreational use of the reserves was the
most important use.
"You can't avoid that . . . recreation will become a
secondary use, and we have to say so.
"It doesn't mean it [recreation] is not important, though,"
he said.
He believed there was a greater public understanding of the
need to protect the reserves, which were vulnerable to 4WD
vehicles, global warming, storms and erosion.
Severe erosion at some of Dunedin's beaches, which threatened
nearby Kettle Park, was an example of what could result with
the loss of natural coastal defences, he believed.
"You have got two choices. You are going to do something, or
just wait for this kind of stuff to happen," he said.
The council's new management plan had been publicly notified
in 2003, and community consultation over changes to the
reserves held in affected areas in 2007 and 2008. The
intention to reclassify the reserves was notified in November
last year, with no public submissions received.
The public would have another opportunity to comment when
consultation on the new management plan began in mid-October,
Mr Reece said.
To be protected
• Kuri Beach (two areas on coastal side of Taieri Mouth
Rd)
• Brighton (coastal side of Brighton Rd)
• Ocean View (coastal side of Brighton Rd)
• Island Park
• Ocean Grove (coastal side of Tomahawk)
• Te Rauone
• Long Beach
• Warrington
• Karitane
• Waikouaiti (in the vicinity of Matanaka Dr)
- chris.morris@odt.co.nz
