Trees at Westshore Beach on the brink of falling into the sea have re-sparked a decades-long debate about erosion at the once-popular sandy swimming beach.

Napier City Council says the trees can’t and won’t be saved.

Ahuriri councillor ward Keith Price said they were a visible reminder of the impact of the environment and the ocean, and the realities of living on the coast.

Peter Perreaux, who grew up surfing at Westshore, snapped the photo of two Norfolk pines being swamped by the sea in a southerly swell of 1.8m combined with a significant high tide recently.

“I’ve been going to this beach for years and this erosion problem has also been going on for years,” Perreaux said.

“It’s a real problem. The regional council dumps gravel out there, but all it takes is one big swell and it’s all washed away.

“If something is not done it will impact the houses on the southern corner soon.”

Perreaux said he remembered going to “beach days” at Westshore.

“They were huge, hundreds if not thousands of people would be at the beach. A helicopter would fly over and drop ping-pong balls with winning numbers on some of them.

“The beach was flat and sandy back then. Westshore is a gift and asset to Napier. There’s been talk of addressing the erosion for years, but nothing happens.”

Price said it was a shame to see these trees in this way, but it was “simply too unsafe to get in there”.

“We are monitoring the situation, but it is also a case of watching nature do its thing – this is natural encroachment,” he said.

“In many ways the trees are a visible reminder of the impact of the environment and the ocean, and the realities of living on the coast.

“We’ve identified several trees that need to be removed and we are monitoring them closely. The safety of the community is of paramount importance and we also need to ensure our staff are safe.

“At the moment we can’t assess those particular trees properly or understand the true impact on them unless we get a safe working environment.”

Hayley Browne, also a councillor for the Ahuriri ward, said the erosion at Westshore was an ongoing challenge and, like many environmental issues, there was no simple, permanent solution.

“The draft Coastal Hazards Strategy, developed in collaboration with the community, will be presented at the regional council meeting on January 29, where its future direction will be determined.

“As deputy chair of the Coastal Hazards Joint Committee, I support the committee’s recommendation that the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) takes the lead in managing coastal erosion,” Browne said.

“This aligns with their expertise and responsibilities more closely than with city or district councils and enables a cohesive plan for the length of our coast. Importantly, this recommendation will go through community consultation before any final decisions are made.

“In the short-to-medium term, the draft plan for Westshore proposes continuing with the current beach renourishment efforts. While it may seem repetitive to keep replenishing the coast with gravel, this approach has been effective in maintaining the shoreline.

“We will continue to closely monitor the coastline. If the science indicates that renourishment is no longer sufficient, the next step would be to consider constructing groynes to help stabilise the beach.

People flocked to Westshore Beach in 1984 for a ping-pong ball drop. Photo / Larry Dallimore

“This would be a significant change to the coastal landscape and we are committed to ensuring the community is fully involved and supportive before moving forward with such measures,” she said.

HBRC coastal specialist Dr Joao Albuquerque says the Westshore renourishment programme is designed to maintain the shoreline.

“Every year part of the bund is washed away and it is then replenished. This prevents the ocean from advancing landwards,” Albuquerque said.

“From 2019 to 2024, the council has used approximately 80,000cu m of gravel to maintain the beach position at Westshore.

“In 2023, after Cyclone Gabrielle, the gravel bund was redesigned to be more resilient to storms by having a wider (4-8m wide) crest. The new design also resulted in some areas of foreshore now being in front of the bund that were previously behind it”.

Reports of erosion at Westshore Beach go back decades.

A coastal erosion report, 10 years in the making, was released in August.

It outlined what action needs to be taken along the coastline from Tāngoio to Clifton.

It said “urgent risk mitigation” was needed “as soon as possible” at “trigger points” in Haumoana, Te Awanga, Westshore and Bay View.

The report said the cost of capital works for these four areas could be more than $34.2 million.

The report recommended 70% of the cost be paid by homeowners in the affected areas, 25% by district ratepayers and 5% by the entire region, and that Westshore and Bay View needed more “gravel nourishment” to build up the beaches.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.