A concept design of the proposed artistic lighting on the Moncks Bay balustrade of the Coastal Pathway. Photo: supplied

Residents have launched a bid to block proposed lighting from being installed along the Moncks Bay balustrade of the Coastal Pathway.

Moncks Bay resident Andrew Elliott has started a petition, which has already received more than 500 signatures. He said the artistic lighting, designed to enhance the pathway, would disrupt its natural ambience.

He added that the lights would also be a distraction for motorists and could impact nearby residents and nocturnal wildlife.

“Our pathway should be a sanctuary where nature thrives, not where it is disrupted."

Andrew Elliott's petition has already received more than 500 signatures.

Elliott also raised concerns about ongoing maintenance costs, which he said would fall on ratepayers.

The lights are planned to run from the Christchurch Yacht Club for several hundred metres towards Shag Rock.

Coastal Pathway Group chair Hanno Sander said he was “disappointed” the petition had been launched.

“For some reason we get this feedback from a very small number of the community, thinking we don’t do any research, that we don’t talk to anybody, that we just pie in the sky come up with these things,” he said.

“We’ve spent years working on this already with experts in the field to come up with solutions to solve these problems.”

Group treasurer Tim Lindley said the number of signatures reflected “misinformation” from Elliott.

Lindley’s claim was rejected by Elliott.

“Why is it misinformation? I haven’t quoted any looks, measurements or anything, I’ve just said that there’s lighting. It’s a known fact wildlife doesn’t like lighting,” he said.

Tim Lindley says funding has not yet been allocated for the lighting and the cost is still unclear.

Lindley said 500 signatures is a small fraction of the one million annual Coastal Pathway users.

Sander said the proposed lighting would be dim compared with existing street lighting, to minimise impacts on motorists, residents and wildlife. The lights would only operate for two to three hours after dusk.

“We’re not building Vegas. This is very tasteful, very dim, very appropriate lighting for an international standard coastal pathway,” he said.

He said the group was open to any community feedback and was committed to doing what was best for the pathway.

Lindley said funding had not yet been allocated for the lighting and the cost was still unclear.

He also declined to detail how any fundraising would be approached or provide a timeframe for the installation of lights, saying only that the group wanted it completed as soon as possible.

At the group’s annual meeting last week, Sander said he had proposed the lighting at a Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere-Heathcote Community Board information session in March, where there were “no objections.”

However, Redcliffs Residents’ Association secretary Pat McIntosh noted that members of the public gallery are not permitted to speak at community board sessions.

Sander later clarified to Bay Harbour News that he meant no one scheduled to speak during the public forum opposed the proposal.

“I think it’s unfair to characterise it that there’s no way someone could oppose, they could go through the same channels we did to get on that schedule,” he said.

Heathcote Ward city councillor Nathaniel Herz Jardine told the Bay Harbour News the proposed lights were presented at an information session, intended for community board members to hear about the group’s ideas for the pathway.

“We weren’t there to make a decision or even for us as individuals to provide a really strong steer one way or the other,” he said.

“I and other community board members are absolutely keen to listen to the public and we haven’t made any decision about the lights at all.”

The 6.5km pathway opened in November 2023 at a cost of $26.25 million.

Elliott said the pathway was already complete and additional features were unnecessary.

The Coastal Pathway Group’s other major proposal is the construction of wind-sheltered viewing platforms along the Moncks Bay causeway. Originally, $720,000 was allocated for this in the city council’s three-year capital plan for 2027/28.

Sander and Lindley successfully sought reinstatement of the funding after it was reduced to $120,000 in the 2026/27 Annual Plan, following council staff advice that the project scope had already been delivered.

The group also requested $360,000 be brought forward in the current Annual Plan to begin platform construction, but this was declined over cost concerns.