The question wasn\u2019t whether the work was affordable. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s whether coastal communities receive the same consideration as inland communities facing equivalent risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, no governing body is responsible for protecting Te Awanga and Haumoana from coastal erosion and flooding. We just want a fair go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawke\u2019s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) recently released its draft Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy, which is giving those on the Cape Coast a chance to plead their case to the council.<\/p>\n
HBRC deputy chairman Jerf van Beek said the draft strategy focused on figuring out both funding options and community preferences for dealing with coastal erosion. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese include a mix of possibilities such as a mix of targeted rates and contributions from general rates, and partnerships with territorial authorities like the Napier City Council and the Hastings District Council.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past five years, Hastings District Council has spent $1.9m on coastal erosion prevention measures in the district.<\/p>\n
These include the Waimarama sea wall, the Clifton revetment wall, coastal shingle replacement, the Te Awanga lagoon ecoreef and coastal protection work.<\/p>\n
Redstone said the fight for more action from authorities was not new.<\/p>\n
Big seas at Haumoana. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n
She initiated Walking on Water (WoW), an incorporated society and charitable trust, in 2009, to help combat coastal erosion in Haumoana, Te Awanga and Clifton. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was 17 years ago. Yet here we are having the same discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a pressing day-to-day issue for all residents. When a storm comes up, now it\u2019s not a question of whether we will lose some of the beach, it\u2019s how much we are going to lose this time?\u201d <\/p>\n
The average loss of beachfront along the Cape Coast is 0.5 metres a year. <\/p>\n
WoW merged with Cape Coast Community Group (CCCG) in 2023, with its core team, including Redstone, active in the new group. <\/p>\n
She is also part of Te Awanga and Haumoana Focus Group, which has been working on a statement of advice that it plans to present to HBRC in the next phase of consultation on the draft Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy. <\/p>\n
Arlo Armstrong, of the focus group, said the coastline was a regional asset and a destination for locals and tourists who came to fish, camp, swim, cycle the tracks, walk along the beach, or enjoy the scenery. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve spent a year talking in depth about the details of the council\u2019s proposal between our committee of 12 locals and council staff. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we are taking a much more detailed approach to the other areas of engagement that have happened around this project.\u201d <\/p>\n
The focus group\u2019s main points were urgent protection, risks to the council, the strategy it supported, and equitable funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are focusing on the next 20 years and have a pretty clear idea of what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Beek said responding well to coastal hazards was complex and came with costs, but the costs and impacts of doing nothing were significant.<\/p>\n
The Cape Coast is prone to storm-surge flooding. Photo \/ Paul Taylor<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are at an important stage in the process for the strategy that covers Tangoio to Clifton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good understanding of the risks our coastline faces, and we have developed a framework and a range of options for responding to them over time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe question we are now exploring with communities is how Hawke\u2019s Bay ratepayers want to pay for that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The question wasn\u2019t whether the work was affordable. \u201cIt\u2019s whether coastal communities receive the same consideration as inland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[94392,174905,806,7793,79564,682,33959,2837,6963,19876,71,33960,29419,1976,1345,6800,1132,130,111,43,139,69,11599,9769,17152,6739,66425,16487,12633,1324,1120,131,8229,4524],"class_list":["post-339381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-94392","tag-250m","tag-as","tag-bays","tag-beachfront","tag-being","tag-cyclone","tag-during","tag-fair","tag-flooding","tag-from","tag-gabrielle","tag-go","tag-hawkes","tag-home","tag-homes","tag-million","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ocean","tag-owners","tag-rebuild","tag-river","tag-rivers","tag-shape","tag-spent","tag-stop","tag-takes","tag-than","tag-they","tag-want"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}