![\"Haumoana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JRHAUP_hbtsupcoastal_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nHaumoana residents Ann Redstone and Arlo Armstrong are members of Te Awanga and Haumoana Focus Group.
\nPhoto: Linda Hall\n<\/p>\n
More than $250 million is being spent in Hawke’s Bay to stop rivers flooding homes in the way they did during Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n
But it’s causing a divide in one of the region’s coastal communities, who say they just want the same respect – and the same sort of investment – to stop the sea from inundating their homes.<\/p>\n
Ann Redstone, a former Hastings District Councillor, has lived in the beachside settlement of Haumoana for 43 years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She says the Cape Coast towns of Haumoana and Te Awanga, which have been a focal point for erosion and the impact of increasing storm surge events, deserved the same level of flood protection that inland communities are getting.<\/p>\n
Redstone said the question wasn’t whether the work was affordable.<\/p>\n
“It’s whether coastal communities receive the same consideration as inland communities facing equivalent risk,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Right now, no governing body is responsible for protecting Te Awanga and Haumoana from coastal erosion and flooding. We just want a fair go.”<\/p>\n
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council 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 chair Jerf van Beek said the draft strategy focused on figuring out both funding options and community preferences for dealing with coastal erosion.<\/p>\n
“These 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,” van Beek said.<\/p>\n
In the past five years, Hastings District Council has spent $1.9m on coastal erosion prevention 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
She initiated Walking on Water (WoW), an incorporated society and charitable trust, in 2009, to help combat coastal erosion in the Cape Coast, specifically Haumoana, Te Awanga and Clifton.<\/p>\n
“That was 17 years ago. Yet here we are having the same discussion,” Redstone said.<\/p>\n
“This is a pressing day-to-day issue for all residents. When a storm comes up, now it’s not a question of whether we will lose some of the beach, it’s how much we are going to lose this time?”<\/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
A spokesperson for the group, Arlo Armstrong, 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 to enjoy the scenery.<\/p>\n
“We’ve spent a year talking in depth about the details of the council’s proposal between our committee of 12 locals and council staff.<\/p>\n
“So, we are taking a much more detailed approach to the other areas of engagement that have happened around this project.”<\/p>\n
The focus group’s main points were urgent protection, risks to council, the strategy it supports, and equitable funding.<\/p>\n
“We are focusing on the next 20 years and have a pretty clear idea of what we want,” Arlo said.<\/p>\n
Van Beek said responding well to coastal hazards is complex and comes with costs that must be met, but the costs and impacts of doing nothing are significant.<\/p>\n
“We are at an important stage in the process for the strategy that covers Tangoio to Clifton,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We 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
“The question we are now exploring with communities is how Hawke’s Bay ratepayers want to pay for that work.”<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n