Lawyers consulted as bridge protest escalates

Northland's Cable Bay is the site of the protest. Picture / Richard Robinson

Far North police are taking legal advice as a growing number of people join a beach protest in a so-far-successful attempt to stop construction of a footbridge.

The steel pedestrian bridge running above State Highway 10 at Cable Bay would link a $50 million condominium development on a hillside with the beach foreshore below, but protesters say no one was consulted about it.

Contractors have been unable to move a digger and equipment on to the popular beach since last Wednesday because protesters have threatened to stand or lie down in front of the digger.

Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn of Kaitaia said yesterday that the police were looking into the legal situation and would take advice from superior officers after hearing from contractors' representatives.

As protest numbers increased to about 50 yesterday, some objectors appeared to be settling in for the long haul.

Tents, flags and a large, self-contained house truck appeared on the Cable Bay beach public reserve beside the highway, only metres from subcontractor GHK Piling's 25-tonne digger.

The subcontractor has a temporary permit, expiring on November 25, to undertake bridge pile work on the foreshore between 7am and sunset, Monday to Friday.

But community and hapu protesters have built a lean-to structure on the pile driving site. Volunteers are manning it around the clock in a protest some are calling a sit-in and others an occupation.