Shoreline Adaptation Plan

Wattle Downs Residents Association Submission to Auckland Council, Pahurehure Inlet 2023

Wattle Downs Residents Association is pleased to contribute further to the care and protection of coastal shorelines through Auckland Council planning and action processes.

Along both sides of the Wattle Downs peninsula, there is a wide diversity of coastal landforms and habitats. Residents greatly value the natural spaces of the shoreline with the sealife, the beaches, and the birds. We seek greater action to protect these treasures for generations to come.

management framework and actually allocate real, ongoing resources to implement protective measures.

Auckland Council adopted the Coastal Management Framework for the Auckland Region in 2017 based on considerable expertise. However, since its adoption, we have seen very little preventive action along Wattle Downs shorelines, just emergency responses after slips and falls. Council has done nothing new in our area to effectively protect vulnerable parts of the shoreline. Meanwhile, we are witnessing increased intensity of damaging coastal events, especially along the exposed southern shorelines of Wattle Downs. Stronger winds and higher tides are consistently surging further into the unprotected areas and eroding them. Cliffs and trees are falling in. Council assets like stormwater discharge points are being exposed.

We urge Council to act on the existing coastal

Prior to amalgamation, Auckland Regional Council had already undertaken extensive research and begun to implement some effective protection based on that research. At some key areas there were even plans for further protection. For our area of Wattle Downs, these plans disappeared in the amalgamation into Auckland Council and coastal protection action has been absent for our area. In the 6 years since the framework was published, wave and wind impacts have become much stronger. Every time it is windy at high tide, waves surge onto the soft cliffs. Erosion and environmental damage is intensifying. Council can see the impacts but takes only very limited, reactive, short-term action like cleaning up when trees fall into the harbour and putting up warning tape when cliff collapse comes too close to the coastal walkway.

Wattle Downs Residents Association requests:

1. Sea-wall maintenance; Wattle Downs has old sea-walls protecting areas including the ends of Kauri Point peninsular and the eastern headland of St Annes beach. These have helped protect Council assets and houses for many years. These sea-walls are slowly being broken apart and urgently need maintenance.

2. Maintain existing assets and do not remove sea-walls. Generally, where there is housing or infrastructure depending on sea-walls for shoreline protection, there should be a policy that no asset removals be undertaken for any area of coast. Wattle Downs sea-walls need to be protected and maintained to reduce coastal erosion.

6. Protect our shoreline and coastal waters from pollution such as plastics and heavy metals coming in through stormwater runoff and from sediment. Each stormwater discharge point needs to be assessed for erosion protection and needs a way of catching particles of plastics, glass and rubbish. These discharge protection points need to be regularly maintained and the rubbish removed. Keeping the waters and the shoreline free from pollution and sediment will enhance the health of the waters, sea life and the quality of people’s experiences.

7. Regular cleaning of the roadside catch-pits has already meant that the heavier rubbish that used to flow into the stormwater system has largely been caught at the bottom of the catchpits before it can damage the stormwater pipes or pollute the shore line. Auckland Council is doing a good job of maintaining the frequency of clearing these catch-pits by employing reliable contractors. All are to be commended.

3. Wave dampening: There is also a more recently installed permeable rock structure protecting part of the shoreline adjacent to St Annes boat ramp. This rock structure and associated plantings have proved effective in absorbing a lot of the wave energy at high tides which would otherwise have greatly eroded the bank of the reserve behind. On either side of this protected area however, soft coastal edges are still being visibly eroded by wind driven wave action at high tide. We call for similar semi-permeable protective structures to be constructed in other areas experiencing high wave action to prevent damage to shorelines and infrastructure assets.

4. Minimise coastal erosion. The costs of repair and rebuilding would be far greater than the cost of planned maintenance and action in advance.

5. Maintain beach access and quality in Wattle Downs as in other areas such as St Annes beach with small sea-wall protecting soft stone of the cliff.

8. Sediment entering the harbour is a very different, unhappy story. Huge amounts of earth have been dug up in areas around Wattle Downs, often in property development processes. So much of this earth has been allowed to be washed into the coastal areas that there are now thick layers of mud covering over what was the floor of the harbour. Sea life has been smothered. In more sheltered parts of the Pahurehure Inlet like on the north side of Wattle Downs, long term residents observe that up to a metre of sediment has been deposited, completely changing the character and life of those parts of the Inlet. Council needs to take much more effective action to prevent sediment runoff if the shoreline is to be maintained.

Wattle Downs Residents Association calls for ongoing action from Council to support our shorelines. We support the creation of a new shoreline adaptation plan as a step towards effective action. We urge that any plan includes clear timeline milestones and robust measuring of outcomes.

This submission was provided by David Hopkins.

Wattle Downs Little Library

There is a global movement called ‘Little Library’. This movement is to enhance the love for books and to encourage communities to share books with one another.

The cabinet for the Wattle Downs Little Library was built by ‘Real World Living’ in Papakura. This group provides and facilitates training and support services for people with disabilities.

The art work was designed and created by Lucy and Ruth Beale and this art is inspired by books they have read. On the back is an illustration from ‘Moby Dick’ by Herman Melville and ‘Whale Rider’ by Witi Ihimaera. The side is inspired by ‘Lord of the Rings’ written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The art on the top of the cabinet is a picture of Aslan from the book ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe‘ by C.S. Lewis. There are also many other characters like, ‘The Cat in the Hat’, ‘Mr. Fox’, ‘Winnie the Pooh’, the ‘Cheshire Cat’ etc. The front of the cabinet has pictures of various book covers.

The top shelf of the ‘Little Library’ is for adult books and the bottom shelf is for children’s books. The ‘Little Library’ has been mounted at a height so that little children can explore the books inside.

The world of books is an important world as it allows our imaginations to flourish. Books do not need high powered visual effects because our imaginations can do this for us. Reading to our children and grandchildren is a big part of developing a common memory. If you are concerned about your children being fixated on electronic devices then the ‘Little Library’ is for you.

The ‘Little Library’ is free and is a place where you can take a book as well as leave a book so that others may also enjoy what is inside its covers.

It is my hope that in time I may have a bench placed beside the ‘Little Library’ so that people may have a place where they can sit and browse through the books given by their community.

Thank you to Mark Beale (Resident)