Posted: 12 October 2006
Consent granted for Matapouri erosion work
Plans to build up several hundred metres of eroding Matapouri Beach with thousands of cubic metres of sand extracted from the local estuary have been granted resource consent.
The Whangarei District Council (WDC) applied to the Northland Regional Council for resource consent to extract and place sand, remove mangroves and carry out other associated work at Matapouri.
A two-member Regional Council Hearings Committee, chaired by Cr Lorraine Hill, heard the WDC’s application over two days during a hearing at Tutukaka late last month.
In a decision released on Wednesday 11th October, the Committee grants the WDC six coastal permits and three land use consents, subject to a raft of conditions.
The consents cover a variety of matters, including allowing removal of about 18,500 cubic metres of sand from two parts of the estuary (totalling about 3.19ha) as well as removal of mangrove trees from 0.66ha of estuary in the Te Wairoa Stream area. They also allow the sand to be placed on Matapouri Beach between Morrison Rd and the sandspit.
The consents – which expire in September 2016 - also allow temporary removal and subsequent re-placement and re-establishment, as necessary, of sand-binding plants from an approximately 0.27ha area at the end of the sandspit.
In its decision, the Committee found that at the levels proposed, the environmental effects of the sand extraction and placement and mangrove removal would be “no more than minor”.
The Committee noted the relocated sand would “add protection to areas along Matapouri Beach identified by coastal hazard mapping as Coastal Hazard Risk Zones”.
“The areas immediately landward of the proposed sand placement areas are all within the Extreme Risk Zone. Most of the dwellings in these areas are also located within this zone. Those that are not located in the Extreme Risk Zone are located within the High Risk Zone.”
The Committee also found that “infill of the estuary with sand from Matapouri Beach is progressively occurring and will continue irrespective of whether this proposal proceeds or not”.
Its decision is open to appeal for 15 working days.