In the last couple of days I have read a couple of very interesting reports.
The first was a glowing endorsement of everything the Port of Napier has done and is doing. In fact the article concluded by suggesting that the Port of Napier, is a “model that works.”
The second very interesting piece I read was the very thorough report, prepared by Westshore resident Larry Dallimore, on Westshore Beach erosion.
Napier is very fortunate to have a resident like Larry Dallimore who has the time, the energy and the knowledge to prepare such a detailed report. I congratulate him.
I started by skimming it and got so interested I went back and studied the full report in detail. It is a very good piece of research and I have to say, the timeline that the report produces, provides compelling evidence that the erosion problem that the City of Napier now faces at Westshore is, in part at least, the result of works done at the Port of Napier.
I have always felt this was the case and Larry Dallimore’s report confirms my view.
The major conclusion of Larry’s report is that the Westshore beach, as some of us old codgers remember it, is gone forever. No amount of playing around with groynes, artificial reefs or breakwaters, is going to get us a sandy beach back. What is needed is a sea wall to protect our coastline.
Now I’m no engineer but its obvious to me that by deflecting the force of waves, you are simply transferring the erosion problem from one part of the beach to another. And it seems amazing to me that we as Councillors are not listening to Larry Dallimore, who is a long term resident and observer of Westshore and a man who has a long history in the heavy civil engineering contracting business – yet we place total faith in a bunch of engineers, sitting in an office somewhere, studying simulations on a computer.
Perhaps we as a council need to have yet another look at this problem and perhaps the Port of Napier needs to be putting some funds aside towards remedial work at Westshore.
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