Coastal erosion: Report lays out action needed along Hawke’s Bay coastline

Urgent coastal protection work is needed in Hawke’s Bay after a long-awaited strategy detailed how to protect homes from coastal erosion and inundation.

It’s been 10 years in the making, but the report is finally finished and lays out what action needs to be taken along the coastline from Tangoio to Clifton.

• “Trigger points” for needing action have already been passed in the four areas of Haumoana, Te Awanga, Westshore and Bay View and “urgent risk mitigation” is needed “as soon as possible”.
• The cost of capital works for these four areas could be more than $34.2 million.
• It recommends 70% of the cost is paid by homeowners in the affected areas, 25% by district ratepayers, and 5% by the entire region.
• One option for Haumoana, where homes are falling into the ocean, is for three groynes.
• Westshore and Bay View need more “gravel nourishment”, to build up the beaches.
• The strategy suggests extending the existing Tukituki groyne, or creating four new groynes, plus more gravel.

To get to this point, a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Hastings District Council and Napier City Council committee has been investigating the situation and how to improve it, as many homes in the coastal region have been slipping into the sea for decades.

Haumoana, Hawke's Bay. Photo/ Alan Blacklock

The committee is meeting on Friday to decide if it’s ready to hand the strategy over to the regional council.

A report in 2022 estimated coastal erosion could result in 100 Hawke’s Bay properties being lost in 20 years, forcing the council to consider whether it needs to retreat or build better defences against the ocean.

Jerf van Beek is the chairperson of the strategy called “Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy 2120″, and told RNZ it had been a long discussion with the community. Many people had lived there a long time because they loved the sea.

He said the work should have started long ago, but there were consenting, cost and community issues involved.

“I would like to do it a lot faster ... funding is another issue, we have to be very careful we are equitable in the way we fund this and who pays for it.”

“There is some real good technology that we’ve brought to the table that can help us at least delay the effects of climate change and the erosion that we see in the coastal area,” he said.

In many coastal areas there is not enough gravel and sand coming out of the rivers to naturally raise and protect the coast, which is why gravel barriers called groynes will help, but that was likely to impact residents.

“Some of the view and access to the beach may be restricted; they won’t be happy with that. But maybe we can find, and actually we have found, some alternative solutions that we are now talking to those communities about,” van Beek said.

It was hoped the strategy would give communities more time to make tough decisions around managed retreat, and van Beek said future technology might even provide other solutions so people don’t have to move.

“We’re actually short of space where people can live in Hawke’s Bay, because we’ve got very productive soils that need to be protected for the economy so where are we retreating these communities to?”

By RNZ