The tale of two beach steps
At one end of New Plymouth, new steps appeared with barely a ripple; at the other end it took a public outcry to get steps replaced.
But the circumstances are very different, says New Plymouth District Council, which has installed a new staircase leading from a reserve at the end of Sackville St to the Fitzroy Beach car park at a cost of $124,000.
Months earlier, council officers recommended against reinstating the steps at Back Beach, which provide the only real access to one end of the kilometre-long tidal beach apart from the famous sand chute.
Their recommendation was overruled by councillors, who voted to spend the $138,000 to fix them.
But the decision to replace the steps at Fitzroy was based on a very different set of circumstances, council infrastructure manager David Langford said.
‘‘The Fitzroy steps had reached the end of their life and their replacement was planned for and budgeted in NPDC’s LongTerm Plan.
‘‘The Fitzroy steps are also located on much more stable ground and set well away from the foreshore area so they are not at risk of damage from erosion, tides and storm surges like the Back Beach steps are.’’
The Back Beach steps were removed in October after suffering damage during excyclone Gita and a king tide. Their removal sparked howls of protest, which only grew when it was revealed there were no plans to replace them, prompting a petition signed by 2277 people demanding they be reinstated.
Langford said the decision over replacing the Back Beach steps wasn’t simply about them being too expensive, but about using ratepayers’ money wisely in the long term.
‘‘The old steps had only made it about a third of the way through their design life before being damaged by the erosion and movement in the dunes and there is a risk that the new steps could also be damaged as the erosion in the dunes continues.’’
He said the contractor would be starting work in the next few weeks and they will be doing their best to have them completed early in the New Year, but this depended on issues such as the weather.
NPDC has also spent $520,000 on the completion of the Waitara Boardwalk and $6000 on planting to help prevent erosion on Paritutu and keep the track open.