Brighter Beaches

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 8

Brighter Beaches

Marine Promenade Projected

NOW —with the approach of the mid-summer rush of bathers and holiday makers—is the acceptable time for improvements to be effected to Auckland's beaches and bays. Houses and shacks are built almost to the water's edge, and at some of the resorts pleasure facilities are absent. A comprehensive scheme for the improvement of Milford beach has been designed by the engineer to the Takapuna Borough Council, Mr. Archibald Slinger, and a long waterfront promenade will be the ultimate result of his project.

’Yt'ISITORS to Auckland frequently express disappointment when they are persuaded to spend a day at the beaches surrounding the Waitemata am] Manukau Harbours. “You have not enough sand on your beaches,” is the oft-heard complaint. Or: “The houses are too close to the water.” This is true of Auckland perhaps more than any other part of New Zealand—particularly on the North Shore, which has become the most popular spot for sun and sea bathers in the

fine weather. Takapuna and Milford comprise the Cannes of the Auckland district. People from the city spend their summer there in picturesque residences on the high ground or in small beach shacks constructed from motor-garages or thrown together for the essential purpose of summer living. Yet the first glance at these resorts justifies the visitors’ complaint. Bad planning and the rigid exercise of private riparian rights has shortened the expanse of sandy beach to an almost negligible degree, and access to the sea-shore is gained from the main road only by a multiplicity of deadend streets. Each of these cul-de-sacs leads to the beach, but there they end, and no connecting road fringes the water to allow cars through. For some time the engineer to the Takapuna Borough Council, Mr. Archibald Slinger, has been working upon a scheme for the formation of a marine drive a chain wide to stretch from Takapuna Beach to Milford Beach, and a similar promenade to reach around the waterfront from Narrow Neck Beach to Takapuna Beach. With this in view he advocates the conservation of tie sea frontage to a certain depth in all subdivisions which are undertaken in future, so that the value of the beaches as resorts will be enhanced, and incidentally the worth of the locality as a residential area will be magnified many times.

I The beginning of this work is alI ready to be seen on the beach frontage j from Takapuna to Milford, where a | substantial concrete retaining wall I has been constructed with a three- | fold advantage. Outwardly the wall I appears to be merely a solid defence i from beach erosion. Actually it car- | ries the Takapuna sewer storage line | —six feet in diameter- —and at the j same time enables the nucleus of New | Zealand's most beautiful marine drive | to be constructed. | Heavy erosion on the North Shore | has occasioned much trouble and a : great deal of expense in past years, and several houses have been moved | back from the danger line of water S encroachment. Moreover, the walls ! which have been erected by residents have been ineffective, and disaster to their fabric has followed severe storms. The concrete structure which carries the storage for the Takapuna sewer sinks into the sand for about 12ft, until solid rock is reached, and already it has saved hundreds of pounds in damages to the foreshore. In the far future the authorities in the borough will recall with gratification the efforts of present-day supporters of this protective measure, for its value is even now manifest at first glance. TO ENLARGE MILFORD BEACH On account of the difficulty in securing a wide strip around the waterfront, the first step toward the marine drive probably will be the formation of a 16-foot walk extending along the contour of the retaining wall. The cost will be light, because the foundation is provided in solid rock by nature herself. The concrete wall has cost £ 17,000. If the whole road is made eventually, it is believed that about 20 per cent, of the traffic will be diverted from the main road to the beach frontage. In addition to this ambitious—but perfectly feasible—scheme, the illimitable potentialities of Milford Beach itself are to be exploited in the near future. It is calculated that at a comparatively low cost the lagoon at the Wairau Estuary can be cleared of mangrove growth and transformed into a marine park of exceptional grandeur. By the use of sluice gates the water will be retained, and its release at low tide will keep the channel clear for the safe and cosy motor-launch haven which now nestles comfortably behind the new pirate ship cabaret and kiosk. In addition, another sluice gate will give access to a canoe lagoon for children, and the whole scheme will contribute toward completely transforming the popular sun-bathing ground. A ballast-wall built at the sea entrance to the lagoon will eventually lead to the formation of an extra 200 yards of sandy beach. It is not denied by those who have municipal affairs in hand on the North Shore that a golden .opportunity was lost when the original waterfront subdivisions were effected, but an inspection of the locality now reveals that its beauty and scenic potentialities are not irretrievably lost if the right steps are taken to discriminate in the future choice of land sub-divisions. Town-planners agree that this is but one of the instances wherein a drop of foresight a decade ago would have been v. ortli a whole ocean of regrets to-day.