Photos of Hataitai Beach on 8 October near high tide (About 5.15pm) following the council's cycleway and wall work to the area. Photo: RNZ / Boris Jancic
Wellington residents are gutted a beloved beach now appears to all but disappear at high tide after a recently completed seawall upgrade.
The regional council said it was investigating whether Wellington City Council had breached any resource management rules.
The city council said it was aware of community concerns and would look at topping up the beach with sand if needed.
Hataitai Beach sits at the foot of the suburb of its namesake. It's sheltered with a gentle gradient making it a popular place for swimmers. It boasts a changing shed, shower, and a wharf for jumping.
Earlier this year a new 115-meter-long replacement seawall was built from pre-cast concrete blocks along the beach, at a cost of about $1.5 million.
The changes were due to the old seawall being in poor condition, making the area more resilient to sea level rise and to add a new cycleway in the area.
Locals noticed that after the new seawall was put in that much of the Hataitai beachfront had been lost, which many said was particularly noticeable at high tide.
A photo taken two hours after high tide on 22 January 2024. Photo: Supplied
The community group Friends of Hataitai Beach, was formed after people noticed a change in the size of the beach.
They had put up flyers on the side of the beach's changing rooms which they claimed showed the reduction in sand.
Group member Susette Goldsmith said locals had "basically lost the beach".
"At high tide you used to be able to still come down onto the beach, at present you can't, so we are very, very concerned about the loss of sand on our beach."
She said residents did not expect it to be a perfect sandy beach but noted it had changed.
"There's just no room for people, in summer it's highly popular, lots and lots of families, there just won't be any space, so it is really disappointing."
Photo of flyers on the Hataitai Beach changing sheds. Photo: RNZ / Nick James
Goldsmith wanted Wellington City Council to put some more sand on the beach.
"We need another 400 cubic metres of sand ... put back in here for it."
She said people were "really angry" about the reported changes.
"This was a little beach with a lot of character; it has lost it completely."
Goldsmith noted that she was very happy that there was now a cycleway in the area because of the seawall changes.
Susette Goldsmith. Photo: RNZ / Nick James
Greater Wellington Regional Council told RNZ it was investigating changes to the profile of Hataitai Beach, and any possible breaches of the Resource Management Act following the recent construction of a seawall.
"We have advised Wellington City Council to investigate adding sand and reprofiling the beach. As this is an open investigation, we cannot comment further."
Wellington City Council said it was keeping an eye on the situation, liaising with the regional council and would look at the option of sand replenishment if needed.
"We have not received correspondence from GWRC relating to a potential resource-consent breach."
How can this happen?
Coastal engineer Rob Bell told RNZ generally seawalls needed to be designed with the right slope and the local waves in mind.
"If you don't get it right it can further exacerbate erosion at the toe of the seawall."
Bell said in general putting a hard structure such as a seawall in a place where the beach was moving backwards and forwards could create issues such as erosion of a beachfront over time.
He said often the addition of seawalls were coupled with the addition of more sand in the area.
"There are trade-offs in all of this that people need to be aware of, and communities need to work through in order to work out whether they want to protect the beach or have the amenity."
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