'Save Mangamaunu Beach' campaign launched as debris dirt mound angers residents and surfers

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Slip material is being stockpiled at the northern end of Mangamaunu Bay by contractors working to reopen SH1.

A bay so beautiful that it features on a postage stamp is being 'desecrated' by contractors working to re-open the earthquake-damaged highway north of Kaikoura, a resident claims.

The alliance charged with restoring State Highway 1 and the Main North Line is stockpiling piles of debris at two sites at the northern end of Mangamaunu Bay.

The beach features on the $2.30 NZ Post stamp.

The bay is on the $2.30 New Zealand Post stamp, and features a famous surf break – one of only 17 around the country listed as nationally significant in a coastal policy statement.

Residents and surfers are protesting the move, but the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) alliance says it has consent, and the slip material needs to be stored somewhere.

A dump truck drops off debris at the Mangamaunu Bay stockpile.

* Work begins clearing large slip covering SH1 at Ohau Point, 'very visible progress' promised

* First temporary workers' buildings arrive in Kaikoura

* Earthquake-damaged State Highway 1 expected to be 'fully functional' in time for Christmas**

Annie Bermingham, who set up the Save Mangamaunu Beach Facebook page, said she wanted the dumping to stop and for what was already stored at the sites to be removed.

'People have enough to handle navigating the earthquake without having to see the place they love being desecrated.'

'They say they're not on the beach, but for everybody living here, this is the beach, they're on the sand dunes which are populated by native birds and have a fragile ecosystem.'

The slip material is being stockpiled on KiwiRail-owned land, more than 1 kilometre from the Mangamaunu surf break.

Bermingham said she understood the importance of re-opening the highway, but felt NCTIR needed to communicate better to include the community in its decision-making.

She claimed NCTIR failed to notify two landowners near the dump sites, who she said were not aware anything was happening until the slip material started turning up.

NCTIR has consent for a 3 metre high, 700m long stockpile but has voluntarily scaled back the length to 500m.

The Facebook page had attracted more than 1000 members and Bermingham said she had been inundated with support, including help from the Surfbreak Protection Society.

NCTIR stakeholder and engagement manager Mike Seabourne said the alliance informed the landowner closest to the work site on June 1 that dumping would be taking place.

The scale of the work – some 620,000 cubic metres of debris had to be shifted north of Kaikoura – meant having storage sites was critical for crews to reopen the highway by Christmas, he said.

A meeting had been planned for residents to voice their concerns on Thursday, and NCTIR had voluntarily scaled back the length of the stockpile following community feedback.

Seabourne said NCTIR had consent for a stockpile 3 metres high, and 700m long, however this had been reduced to 500m on the KiwiRail-owned land where it was situated.

He stressed the piles were not on the beach or the coastal marine area, there were no plans to push any of the debris into the ocean, and the site was more than 1 kilometre from the surf break.

'At the Mangamaunu stockpile site, our project's ecology and landscape specialists have walked over the site and assessed the effects of the proposal prior to any stockpiling taking place,' he said.

'Under the conditions of our consent we are required to assess the ecological, cultural, heritage and landscape effects of what we do and minimise our impacts.'

Seabourne said the material at the Mangamaunu Bay stockpile was sorted through to see if it could be reused in construction.

'Material that cannot be used is then transported by road trucks to permanent disposal sites in the Hapuku area,' he said.