Erosion

Coastal erosion workshop

We had an interesting session this afternoon with coastal researchers, Jim Dahm and Bronwen Gibberd, who are working for Porirua City Council to get information about coastal hazards and erosion, and starting to prepare long-term plans to prevent them getting worse.

We had a small turnout (about 10 locals), but they were mostly people who had lived at the beach for many years and could tell the researchers a lot about the beach and how it has changed over the decades. …

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Coastal hazards and resilience community workshops

Porirua City Council is running workshops on coastal hazards, which includes the erosion the Pukerua Bay beach is suffering. They sent us the following information. If you’re interested in this, head along to St Marks, Rawhiti Road, Saturday 11 August, 2pm–4pm.

As part of the District Plan review, we [PCC] have engaged the Focus Resource Management Group to help us understand the coastal hazard risk in Porirua.  Principal members Jim Dahm and Bronwen Gibberd have a great deal of experience with the assessment and management of coastal hazards in New Zealand, and a long history of consultation with communities. Utilising their experience and local knowledge from those living next to the coast, we are now seeking to engage with those affected by coastal hazards in Porirua.

We will be running a coastal hazard seminar series to provide information about the coastal hazards and provide opportunity for the community to discuss the work in more detail with coastal hazards experts as well as Council staff. We are keen to talk directly with affected residents, and with other members of the community who have an interest. Through robust research and engagement with the community, we hope to ensure that the District Plan assists in building resilience to our coastal hazards.

Coastal hazards community workshops:

Plimmerton School: Saturday 11 August 10.00am – 12.00pm

St Marks Church Pukerua Bay: Saturday 11 August 2.00pm – 4.00pm

Titahi Bay School: Sunday 12 August 10.00am – 12.00pm

Paremata Boating Club: Sunday 12 August 1.00pm – 3.00pm

Pāuatahanui School: Sunday 12 August 4.00pm – 6.00pm

Local knowledge and views are essential to building a thorough understanding of coastal hazards in Porirua. We are interested in changes anywhere on the Porirua Coast and Harbour. Any information you can provide will be helpful and appreciated including:

  • any observed shoreline changes over the last 50-100 years.
  • how your property or the local coast been affected by erosion or flooding.
  • any old photos, early descriptions, old maps, etc.
  • any information on past coastal storms and their impacts (e.g. photos or observations of erosion damage and sea flooding).
  • people or groups who may have useful information (e.g. long-term residents, local historians).

For more information please see the PCC website – https://poriruacity.govt.nz/your-council/city-planning-and-reporting/district-plan/coastal-hazards/

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Ocean Parade beach erosion meeting

Update: In January 2018 Porirua City Council built a small earth wall to stabilise the bank, which has stopped further erosion. This area is identified in PCC’s coastal management strategy as an area that needs protecting.

Background

Thirty Ocean Parade residents, including Iain MacLean from the Pukerua Bay Residents’ Association, came together on 2 December 2016 to discuss the rapid erosion of shorefront, civil emergency procedures post-earthquake (14 November 2016) and severe weather event (12-15 November) causing a landslide on Beach road – blocking access and damaging properties on Ocean Parade – of which three had to be evacuated over a twenty-four period.

Aerial view of the beach along Ocean Parade.

We enhanced the Parade’s resilience through self-help community initiatives in regards to civil emergency procedures but the issue of rapid shorefront erosion was considered as urgent. We collectively concluded that we want to increase awareness of the problem and the residents selected a small Steering Group to undertake action. We want to see the Porirua City Council recognise the urgency of the shorefront erosion and act quickly to mitigate the effects of the inundation and subsequent erosion of the shorefront along Ocean Parade, Pukerua Bay – in close consultation with Pukerua Bay residents but with having vision for a long term solution. …

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