Work finished at beach front carpark on dunes

Locals and visitors at Foxton Beach will have recently seen the completion of work at the beachfront carpark, where council has engaged contractors to lower and reshape the sand dunes bordering the carpark and surrounding area.

A large part of the need for this work was to enhance pedestrian and vehicle safety, as the dunes had grown and narrowed the roundabout and entrance way to the carpark over the years. This decreased visibility, causing pedestrian and vehicle conflict.

The work on the dunes arose from a public submission asking for it to be done. Congratulations to council officers and contractors, whose skills provided an efficient operation with minimal disruption to a high-value public area. The result looks great.

With winter coming to an end, we should again turn our minds to our magnificent coastal environment. We in the Horowhenua are extremely privileged to have a coastline that we can access with vehicles for all the many recreational activities we enjoy on our beaches. Unfortunately there is a downside to that — the minority of beach users who continue to use vehicles, including illegal off road vehicles, in an anti-social manner. This not only causes annoyance to other beach users but also damages our fragile coastal environment.

Last year Horowhenua District Council adopted a district-wide bylaw enforcing a 30 kilometre per hour speed limit across all of our beaches. The aim of the bylaw is to protect coastal areas and to enhance the safety and enjoyment of all beach users. It is disappointing to observe that a minority of vehicle users continue to flout those bylaws and speed limits and damage the environment.

We all have a role to play in discouraging this behaviour and we ask that any instances of dangerous or antisocial driving on our beaches and dune fields are reported to Police at the time. If you are unable to contact Police immediately try to take registration numbers or record distinctive features of the offending vehicles and forward to Police, who will follow up and take the appropriate action. Beach wardens will be working alongside Police in monitoring our beaches and coastal environment and enhancing public safety on them, but they need your help — they can’t do it alone. It’s everyone’s responsibility so let’s discourage those who abuse the privilege we have!

Congratulations are due to council officers and contractors, whose skills provided an efficient operation with minimal disruption to a high value public area.