MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 11 May 2001

Council To Re-Sand Eastern Beach

Manukau City Council is to restore the sand levels along the entire face of Eastern Beach in Pakuranga. It will be a major project involving the transfer of sand from a site in the Firth of Thames.

The project is unprecedented in scale in Counties Manukau. The Eastern Beach project is one two priority projects in this year’s erosion control programme.

The project has been allocated $350,000 from this year’s operating budget, but the entire cost will be $650,000.

Chairman of the Council’s Corporate Business Committee, Councillor Neil Morrison, says small areas of sand have been restored on local beaches before, but nothing on this scale.

“Eastern Beach is one of the finest recreational resources in Manukau. It’s a wonderful family beach, but it’s been losing sand for some time due to changing weather patterns. The tides have been sucking sand out to sea at this beach and many others in the Auckland region. That sand is now lying on the seafloor out towards Brown’s Island but it would be quite impractical to try to recover it.

“We’re going to great lengths to find a quality and type of sand that matches the original shell-based sand. Several thousand cubic metres of material will be brought in by truck from the Firth of Thames.”

The Council’s Corporate Business Committee approved the re-sanding proposal on Tuesday, and the next step is to apply for a resource consent.

The timing has not been decided, but it is likely to be done in a single operation before summer. However it’s expected there will be continuing erosion each year, so the Council plans to top up the sand levels annually.

Councillor Morrison said “There will be some inconvenience to local residents because of the numbers of truck movements, but we will be keeping people informed as plans are firmed up, and will try to minimise the effects,” he said.

The second major project this year is replacement of seawalls along the Tamaki River and at Waiomanu Bay, Maraetai

The seawalls along the Tamaki River adjoining Fisher parade and Bramley Drive – known as the Rotary Walkway – protect a reserve, and are in need of repair. The cost will be $300,000.

The seawall at Waiomanu Bay has been in a state of collapse for a number of years. The original failure of the seawall resulted in the realignment of the coast road. The estimated cost of repair is $100,000.

Ends

Media Contact
Gabrielle Hinton
Corporate Communications
Manukau City Council
Phone: (09) 2628900 x 8650
Fax: (09) 2625759
Email: ghinton@manukau.govt.nz

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