Erosion of the beach and sand dunes, and damage to the sea wall and esplanade at St Clair, is a serious problem. Dunedin Ratepayers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants and millions repairing coastal damage over the last 20 years with the situation only getting worse.According to Jules, the solution is to reinstate the wooden groyne constructed in 1921 and repaired in 1955, but more recently allowed to deteriorate with ever increasing dune damage.
Estimated cost: $100,000. Estimated time frame: Two weeks. No resource consent required because it would be repairing an existing structure. Effective: almost immediately.
Jules presented a fascinating slide show of images taken over the years showing the cycles of repair and neglect corresponding with sand accumulation or erosion. These images and much more can be found in the "Detailed Report" on the website www.stclairbeach.co.nz and I thoroughly recommend this fascinating read.
