Both Waikato Regional Council and TCDC will not be taking any enforcement action against the person or persons responsible for placing an un-consented groyne on the beach at Flax Mill Bay.

The Waikato Regional Council have advised me as follows –

“We are liaising with Thames Coromandel District Council regarding the local community concerns about the beach in Flaxmill Bay,  including removal of the existing groyne and the possibility of a new trial groyne (which would require consents).  We are not currently proposing to undertake enforcement action on the current sandbag groyne  that has been used by locals.”

TCDC has also confirmed they are not going to be taking any enforcement action.

So there you have it – these councils go through an elaborate process to formulate a Coastal Hazard Policy, which specifically states they will prosecute anyone building these illegal structures. But with the print hardly dry on this document they totally ignore their own policy and allow the people responsible for this illegal structure on a public reserve to go unpunished. There is not even a commitment to require the illegal groyne to be immediately removed.

This sends a very clear message to coastal landowners – take the law into your own hands – build illegal structures on public reserves on the beach/coast and expect zero consequences. 

The councils know that we are going to face ever increasing and damaging coastal erosion and coastal flooding in coming decades as sea levels rise. They are going to regret their wimpish response as more and more landowners thumb their noses at their ineffective “policies”.

Pathetic.