Bay Harbour: August 12, 2020
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PAGE 10 Wednesday <strong>August</strong> <strong>12</strong> <strong>2020</strong><br />
BAY HARBOUR<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
News<br />
Still no decision on future of ‘needless eyesore’<br />
• By Stu Oldham<br />
OFFICIALS ARE looking at<br />
ways to improve a now rockstrewn<br />
beach some neighbouring<br />
residents say is blighted by a<br />
needless eyesore.<br />
The city council this week confirmed<br />
it was investigating options<br />
for improving the amenity<br />
value of Clifton Beach but that<br />
no decision has been made.<br />
City staff are preparing a<br />
proposal for Environment<br />
Canterbury after officials from<br />
both councils met to discuss the<br />
future of the beach last week.<br />
The proposal will include an<br />
assessment of environmental<br />
impacts, costs and time frames,<br />
in response to that meeting, a<br />
spokesperson confirmed.<br />
The move is the latest since the<br />
Redcliffs Residents’ Association<br />
in <strong>August</strong> urged the council<br />
to clean up what it said was<br />
left after work on the rock<br />
revetment protecting Main Rd<br />
and supporting the section of the<br />
Coastal Pathway.<br />
The association says rock previously<br />
buried up to 4m underground<br />
was insufficiently buried<br />
when the excavated material was<br />
returned to the beach.<br />
Tide and weather have since<br />
exposed rocks along a stretch of<br />
beach that has been sandy for<br />
as long as many residents can<br />
EXPOSED: Redcliffs Residents’ Association Secretary Pat McIntosh says the wait to<br />
remediate Clifton Beach was ‘frustrating.’<br />
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN<br />
remember, it says.<br />
Association secretary Dr Pat<br />
McIntosh said the wait for a<br />
plan to remediate the beach was<br />
“frustrating.”<br />
“They do not appear to have a<br />
plan, and I’m afraid we may have<br />
another summer like this.”<br />
The association was also frustrated<br />
by the council’s responses.<br />
Initially, council staff said<br />
the rocks are naturally occurring<br />
and would eventually be<br />
consumed by the sandy beach,<br />
she said.<br />
In November, the council acknowledged<br />
it was an unforeseen<br />
result of the work but could not<br />
be tackled during penguin nesting<br />
season, she said.<br />
The prospect of further work<br />
seemed to slow when the council<br />
said it needed archeological and<br />
cultural assessments before it<br />
could start, she said.<br />
The association understood<br />
remediation, whether that meant<br />
scraping or sifting out the rocks<br />
to a reasonable depth, might<br />
prove costly, she said.<br />
“But it was their mistake and<br />
is their responsibility to put<br />
right.”<br />
It was the association’s position<br />
the council had some work to do<br />
before it met the conditions of<br />
its consents, and the beach was<br />
restored, she said.<br />
<strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News sought an<br />
interview with the council. In a<br />
written response, a spokesperson<br />
said it had no non-compliance<br />
reports from any of the agencies<br />
that issued its resource consents<br />
for the project.<br />
Asked what advice it had as to<br />
the potential impact of rocks on<br />
the beach, the spokesperson said<br />
the “naturally occurring rocks”<br />
were an unforeseen consequence<br />
of construction.<br />
The spokesperson later confirmed<br />
that meant the council<br />
had no advice at the time of the<br />
works, or after.<br />
Asked about the estimated<br />
cost of removing the previously<br />
subsurface rocks, by option<br />
considered since the issue was<br />
identified, the spokesperson said<br />
“no decision has been made yet<br />
as to what the preferred option<br />
may be.”<br />
That was also the response<br />
when asked whether the<br />
remediation time frame has been<br />
affected by the need for cultural<br />
and archeological assessments.<br />
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