Herne Bay residents’ fight with Watercare - claim loss of Salisbury Reserve would affect their mental health

Residents of New Zealand’s wealthiest suburb are bracing for a fight with Watercare over the temporary loss of prized park land which locals claim could adversely affect their mental health.

The standoff relates to a $1.2 billion project to stop sewage flooding into the city’s beaches after heavy rain.

But residents of Herne Bay - where average property prices are north of $3 million - are upset the project will require a portion of Salisbury Reserve to be seconded by Watercare for the next two years.

While locals support a tunnel project to improve beach water quality, they don’t want to lose most of the local reserve if Watercare Services gets approval to use it as a laydown yard.

Hearings over the use of Salisbury Reserve are due to start next month. Some residents’ submissions oppose losing most of their local park.

A hearings panel will decide whether Watercare should get the reserve lease it wants from May this year through to around 2026.

Via the Herne Bay Residents Association, locals said that would leave only the upper area of Salisbury Park, where the playground is, available for public use.

They oppose that.

Residents have complained that the park is not critical for the project and the two-year closure would cause considerable noise and nuisance, potentially affecting people’s mental health.

The closure of Salisbury Reserve could cause considerable noise and nuisance, potentially affecting people’s mental health, say residents. Photo / Doug Sherring

Watercare wants most of that reserve and Point Erin Park to enable the construction of the Central Interceptor and Herne Bay sewer upgrade projects. It wants temporary occupation of park land at 94 Shelly Beach Rd and reserve land at 19 Salisbury St.

Watercare chief infrastructure officer Steve Webster acknowledged the proposed use of “a portion” of Salisbury Reserve and told the Herald it was necessary.

The land had been selected as a construction laydown area for the delivery of new essential wastewater infrastructure, Webster said.

The site, along with another laydown area on Shelly Beach Rd, was selected following a comprehensive assessment based on a number of criteria. The laydown areas will support delivery of the Herne Bay sewer project, part of the western isthmus water quality improvement programme, he said.

The path of Watercare's Central Interceptor. Image / Watercare Services

That project is essential to reduce overflows into local waterways and the Waitematā Harbour, helping improve beach water quality for swimming and recreation.

“The new pipework for the Herne Bay sewer will connect to Watercare’s billion-dollar Central Interceptor wastewater tunnel that is being built through to Point Erin, taking wastewater direct to Māngere for treatment and safe disposal,” Webster said.

More than 600 staff are now working on the Central Interceptor project at 16 sites across the city, including seven parks, where there is minimal impact on communities, he said.

Watercare Central Interceptor staff celebrate the tunnel boring machine Hiwi-te-Rangi's breakthrough at May Rd, Mt Roskill in September 2023.

The Herne Bay works, including the construction laydown areas, have been publicly notified.

A resource consent hearing is due to be held on February 20 and 21, Webster said.

The Herald reported in 2018 how locals were having a “s***” fight with council officials and politicians over sewage spills on their beaches.

The battle was raging over the best way to fix sewage overflows into the Waitematā Harbour.

A little further around the harbour, parts of Pt Chevalier Beach have had toilet paper at the high tide mark. The council blamed rain entering and overwhelming the wastewater system for debris at the beach.

A Herald investigation in 2017 found waste flows from 41 points around the inner-city suburbs almost every time it rains. One million cubic metres of wastewater and diluted sewage - the equivalent of 400 Olympic swimming pools - was pouring into the harbour each year, it found.

And there are fears the overflows - unusually frequent for a developed nation - will get even worse with thousands of new residences rising in the inner suburbs, where combined stormwater/sewer pipes are now more than a century old.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.