Erosion leaves ‘appalling’ access
Beach steps likely to be patched until permanent fix done
ARaumati Beach resident has described the state of an “extremely popular” beach access from Aotea Rd as “appalling”. Carol Lingard said access used to comprise a set of nine steps, plus two handrails, which went down to a level concrete platform, and then a set of six steps, through a sea wall, to the beach.
But a storm in June 2022 destroyed the top nine steps and concrete platform.
“I expected Kāpiti Coast District Council to come and rebuild the steps in due course but didn’t contact them as I knew they had a lot of work to repair in the district after the storm and I am a big fan of council and the amazing work they do to keep the beach and the adjoining areas in good shape.
“But the repair work has not eventuated.
“After waiting a year, I contacted the council and they told me that they did not realise the steps had gone, due to staff changes no one had twigged about them.
“They said they were planning to do a whole step repair when the new sea wall is built in the future but they would put in a temporary set of steps in the meantime.
“This was last winter and a few planks of wood and some wooden pegs appeared — the neighbours all laughed and wondered how many high tides and storms they would survive and lo and behold they disappeared again in no time. Apparently the council took them out as they thought they were dangerous.
“What is there now is just a very rough, steep area and everyone that I meet is taking extreme care walking up and down the area, and is saying ‘why can’t they do a nice job like the other access areas to the beach further up and down Raumati’?”
Meanwhile, another resident, Robyn Steele, has written to council about material backfilled along the Raumati seawall.
“As predicted, and notified to you, the $90,000 worth of rotten rock placed behind the Raumati seawall is being reclaimed by the sea after the first high tide, not even a storm, just five days after completion of placement.
“Perhaps my rejected suggestion of a row of decent-sized rocks from below the seawall being placed behind the seawall might have provided a stay of execution.”
Council responds:
Infrastructure and asset management group manager Sean Mallon said overtopping of the seawall and coastal erosion are a fact of life for this part of the coast.
“With more than 120 coastal accessways and almost four kilometres of seawalls to maintain, we do our best to keep on top of the maintenance requests but sometimes the sea has other ideas.
“Construction of a replacement Raumati seawall is scheduled to begin in 2026/27, focusing on priority areas first.
“Ahead of that work starting, we’re trying to balance the need for interim solutions — like temporary steps or backfilling the seawall — with cost and longevity.
“We don’t want to do anything too permanent or expensive like pouring concrete with major construction on the horizon.”
Aotea beach accessway
The beach accessway at Aotea was very difficult to manage, Mallon said.
“In 2023 we attempted to repair it three times, only to have the repair work washed out (undermined) each time.
“Our staff are looking at further work, including just reinstating the wooden steps but with the expectation that it would just be washed away again.”
Anything more than temporary repairs will potentially be included in the Raumati seawall renewal.
“The other complication is access for machinery must be maintained along the top of the wall to allow for maintenance of the sea wall itself, so we can’t put a staircase in which runs from the road to the sea.”
Raumati seawall
Mallon said the weathered rock placed on top of the Raumati seawall was there to prevent or slow down the washing out of material.
“The choice of material we use for this is a trade-off between cost, safety and expediency.
“The weathered rock is also naturally present further back from the seawall and has been widely used along the wall in previous repairs.
“In our latest work we covered over 1500m of the 3km wall and, in most places, the rock has done its job, and we hope it will continue to do so until the wall is replaced.
“While there are some places where some of the rock has been moved already, it has still prevented the pre-existing material from being removed and so protected the wall.”
He said it had been suggested taking some of the large rocks from the beach side of the wall and placing them on top of the wall might be a better solution.
“Those large rocks play an important part in protecting the wall on the beach side.
“Removing some of these would undermine the wall from that side.
“We know the wall is regularly overtopped and raising it where practical is being looked at as part of the design for the new wall.”