Auckland councillor urges caution following fatal cliff fall

Police and ambulance officers at a cliff at Mairangi Bay in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

A North Shore councillor is urging locals to use coastal walkways with caution, after a person fell to their death in Mairangi Bay yesterday.

The person died after falling from a cliff on the walkway between Campbells Bay and Mairangi Bay around 5pm, a police spokesperson said.

Several police cars and two ambulances attended the incident and a police helicopter was also seen in the area.

Ambulance officers were seen walking around the cliff carrying a stretcher and a white sheet. Part of the walkway between Campbells Bay and Mairangi Bay has been blocked off.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board deputy chairman George Wood said the area had become increasingly hazardous after a high level of rainfall over the winter months.

"It's quite dangerous along the top of the cliff and also at the bottom of the cliff - people need to be careful."

Wood said the same could be said for much of the North Shore coastline.

A young man died after falling from the same stretch of cliff in October 2011.

A North Shore woman was killed by rocks falling from a cliff at nearby Rothesay Bay when she was walking her dog several months earlier.

Wood said the multiple incidents show there's always an element of risk - but there was work being done to future-proof the most precarious spots.

"There are people doing some pretty expensive civil engineering to reinforce that area," he said.

"They're putting support into the cliff face to stop it from eroding further."

But Wood said reinforcing the whole coastal area in the near future was unrealistic.

"It's such an extensive area, I just don't know if it's possible."

Barry Potter, Auckland Council's director of infrastructure and environmental services, said the council was deeply saddened to hear of the person's death.

"Our initial enquiries into this tragic event suggest that it did not occur on Auckland Council property and we are assisting police with their investigation," he said.