Looking forward to a Waitara Coastal Walkway

Wouldn't it be great if we could take the walkway all the way to Waitara?

It’s summer and thousands of locals and visitors are heading to one of our great – and free – drawcards: our Coastal Walkway.

They’re on bikes, skateboards and roller-blades, and walking and running between Ngamotu and Bell Block beaches every day.

Cafe´ s cater to the passing public and the talented carvers in Te Kupenga’s stone symposium were a magnet for young and old.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take the walkway all the way to Waitara?

Extending the Coastal Walkway from Bell Block to Waitara is a project that’s dear to my heart. We know how happy and energetic we can feel when we’re on the Coastal Walkway: that positive vibe is infectious and it spills over into the rest of our day.

I’m looking forward to seeing that happen for Waitara residents too. There will be more opportunities for bike businesses to hire and sell to those who want to see more of our coastline.

We’ll be able to connect off-road with New Plymouth Airport and also explore more of our rich history through the waahi taonga sites in the area.

The walkway would also connect Waitara to the proposed Taranaki Traverse route, up the Waiwhakaiho River to Egmont National Park.

The proposed extension from Bell Block got a ringing endorsement from the wider community through last year’s Top 10 Focus Areas consultation.

At the end of that consultation, working toward being a Zero Waste district and extending the Coastal Walkway to Waitara were the two proposals that came out tops.

The final decision on going ahead with the extension, which could increase the length of our

12.7km walkway to somewhere near 20km, will be made through NPDC’s draft 10-Year Plan

2018-2028 process during the coming months.

If NPDC does give the project the official go-ahead, we’d still have to investigate which route to take: inland or coastal.

At first glance it seems logical for the Coastal Walkway to follow the coastline as much as possible. There are some significant hurdles to get over, though.

The coastal route includes restrictions around airport security, protecting numerous historical sites and urupa, and the threat of erosion. However it does have spectacular views up to Waitara and along to New Plymouth, and having such a long pathway right along the coastline would be a big attraction to national and international visitors.

If we go inland we’d be removed from the immediate coastal area. However, there’s the potential for side-paths alongside streams running down to the coast, which would be a unique element to this section of the walkway.

We’d also be able to connect easily with the cafe´ at the airport. Breaking up a long cycle trek with a cuppa at our new terminal could be one of the walkway’s highlights!

With the development of the Area Q residential area under way, this part of an inland route could be constructed relatively quickly. So, coastal or inland?

I don’t have a preference as there is a lot of investigation to be done yet on the feasibility of each route.

But it’s a question that would be asked of residents before any development of the walkway began and I’m sure it would be a healthy discussion – after all, this is a public facility that would be enjoyed by generations to come and we’d want to get it right.

Regardless of the route that is selected, the walkway’s extension would open up an area of our district that saw events that helped shape modern New Zealand.

As dramatic as this land is geographically, its history is even more remarkable. From the earliest Ma¯ ori inhabitants through to British settlers and the events leading up to war, the land between Bell Block and Waitara has seen the best and the worst of our district’s evolution.

NPDC would work alongside hapu¯ to tell those stories as part of the Coastal Walkway project. The journey across the land could also be a journey through time, helping grow greater understanding of how we got to where we are in modern-day Taranaki.

This extension of the Coastal Walkway would be a safe off-road link that connects Waitara to Bell Block and New Plymouth but also connects us with our past and our coastal landscape.

With this one NPDC project we could enhance our economic, lifestyle, cultural and active transport opportunities while strengthening the links between key urban areas.

It could be a magnificent legacy that we gift to our future generations.

Colin Johnston is a New Plymouth District councillor