Outgoing council splashes out on beach

Dredging at Judges Bay. Photo / Garry Brandon

Auckland City Council is bidding farewell to its loyal Citizens and Ratepayers heartland by splashing out on the eastern suburbs waterfront.

Weeks before the council is dismantled, two long-necked orange diggers squat in the shallows at Judges Bay. They're dredging silt from the tidal basin separated from Waitemata Harbour by Tamaki Drive and the railway line - in stage one of a project to refurbish the beach.

This will create an extended beach next to Parnell Baths allowing for all-tide swimming. The work should be completed by November. The baths are also undergoing more work and are due to open in the first week of November.

Stage two will spruce up the foreshore, at the foot of Parnell Rose Gardens, through landscaping and features such as a paved picnic area. That should begin early next year.

Aaron Bhatnagar, the outgoing Hobson representative on the council, fought for the $5 million overhaul of the bay.

Not far away, a new timber walkway is taking shape beside the railway track between Orakei and Purewa roads. It will be suited both to cyclists and walkers and should be completed by the end of this month.

However, as it is linked to the renewal of a sluice gate between the basin and Purewa Creek, it won't be open to the public until December.

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