KEY POINTS:
The Far North District Council has set aside $4 million to buy coastal land during the next five years to improve public access to the coastline.
The council is also beefing up its coastal access consent conditions as part of an effort to make Far North beaches more accessible.
The $4 million can be used to buy land, fence or protect sensitive and natural bush and wildlife areas, build walkways and construct facilities all with the aim of improving public access to the coast, especially in conjunction with coastal subdivision development.
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said coastal access was a priority for his council.
It is making what he describes as "a full-on assault" to counter the effects of increasing coastal development that is steadily eroding general public access to the sea.
"We want to make sure there is public access to beaches and the coast when new coastal subdivisions are created," Mr Brown said.
"People have told us this is what they want and we need to move now to set up consent criteria that will make it easier to provide for things like access roads, walkways, coastal reserves and esplanade strips."
He said public demand for coastal access was increasing as population and residential development continued to grow throughout the Far North.
The council has already adopted standard criteria making the process of coastal land acquisition easier and more consistent to obtain as part of coastal subdivision.
The criteria adopted are expected to lead to the purchase of more public coastal reserve land and esplanade areas in conjunction with subdivisional developments.
A longer term Open Space and Coastal Access strategy - to be completed this year - will add to the shorter-term subdivision criteria.
The longer-term strategy will cover when and how parks, reserves and other public spaces and public access to the coast will be managed by the council.
Public and iwi consultation on the Open Space and Coastal Access strategy has already started at community workshops that are being held throughout the district.
