13 July 2000

Work on reshaping dunes along the New Brighton beaches will start soon to stop erosion.

The dunes will be reshaped and planted for stabilisation.

The annual job will start at the end of this month when a bulldozer and an excavator will move in on the dunes.

Rodney Chambers, of the Christchurch City Council’s Coast Care’s Supervisor, says sites have been identified for treatment between Southshore and North Beach.

Identification has been made with the help of local residents.

Recontouring of the dunes will be followed by two months of replanting by Coast Care, work groups and volunteer groups. The dunes will be stabilised before the spring winds.

Community volunteer planting days will be organised by Coast Care.

This will be the fourth year that the dunes have been reshaped. Mr Chambers says extreme erosion sites have been dealt with and now the work will be with smaller dunes to prevent them getting larger.

In the past large, mobile dunes moved and encroached on properties and roads, he says.

Environment Canterbury monitors the dune-recontouring programme, as strict parameters have to be met, Mr Chambers says.

Dunes must be contoured to a minimum height of 8m above sea level, with a minimum volume of sand in the profile to act as a storm buffer.

Further information: Rodney Chambers: 382 1678.