Still on on the stairs

I find it amazing that the one access to the Back Beach island area has been demolished without any prior notice to the public and no discussion on an alternative, other than the extravagant $150,000 price tag.

This decision should have been made by elected council representatives in consultation with the many beach users, not by some council bureaucrat. Just put it in the too-hard basket and demolish before anybody notices.

The suggestion that they can use the lower car park shows how out of touch they really are. On many occasions, especially when the surf is good, both of these parking areas are full to overflowing and now we are going to expect them to take even more people and vehicles.

There is also the safety aspect; even more beach users at high tide will be walking past very unstable, erosion-prone cliff faces which collapse on a regular basis. We seem to find vast amounts of money to refurbish council HQ, build cricket practice nets that are hardly used, support bottomless pit rugby grounds, but can’t give access to one of our iconic beaches. Gormless.

Shane Parker, New Plymouth