Government to contribute $3.4m to beach remediation

SARA HOLLYMAN AND MAX FRETHEY

The Government has announced a $3.44 million contribution towards the cleanup of contaminated material at Tāhunanui Beach.

The announcement, made by Environment Minister Penny Simmonds at the site on Tuesday, will amount to 75 per cent of the cleanup bill – expected to be $4.59 million.

“We’ve got sites like this all around the country, and we think it’s really important for us to be helping the local councils to remediate them,” she says.

The Minister announced the contribution as one of the first, and largest grants from a new Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund.

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith says he is relieved by the announcement, which will mean ratepayers do not have to foot the total bill for the remediation work.

“Our Council got on with the cleanup, given how vulnerable the affected Back Beach area is to coastal erosion. The grant amounts to 75 per cent of the total expected cleanup cost of $4.59m. It will come as a huge relief to ratepayers, who would otherwise have had to meet the full cost alone.”

Ratepayers will still have to cover $1.15m of the cleanup and council will spend another $300,000 constructing a replacement car park and planting the area, bringing the total cost to $4.89m.

“This contaminated site is a legacy issue from an era when too little value was placed on coastal environments and the risks of treated timber toxins were poorly understood,” Nick says.

“I am pleased with the way central and local government are partnering to fix this inherited problem and restore this iconic beach to a pristine state.

He says, often these problems can take decades to fix, but council’s “pragmatic approach” meant that the situation has been reasonably resolved within 18 months of tests showing the risk posed to public health and the environment.

Penny described the Tāhunanui Beach as “pristine” and “iconic” to the region.

Nelson City Council group manager community services Andrew White says about 10,000 cubic metres of contaminated material is expected to be removed from the affected Back Beach area and taken to the York Valley Landfill hazardous waste facility during the cleanup phase of the project. The contaminated material is comprised of wood waste, underlying sand, topsoil, and car park base course.

“Moving the material out of Tāhunanui Reserve started last week and it is expected to be at least six weeks before dunes are re-established on the site and the new gravel parking area is installed.”

Road access to the Back Beach will remain closed from the end of the Skate Nelson car park for the duration of the removal operation, and the site will be cordoned off and secured overnight and at weekends.

“We want this removal work completed safely before the busy summer season gets under way,” Andrew says. “There will be disruption for beach users but we ask for tolerance so contractors can get the job done as quickly as possible.”

After the contaminated material has been moved, a 20-space gravel parking area will be constructed, and the area will be reinstated and planted to support the formation of low-lying dunes and restore species habitat.

“If the weather permits, planting will occur before the summer season and for several years until the dunes are fully established,” Andrew says.

Plans to remove the sawdust have been ongoing since testing of the site in May 2023 confirmed concentrations of arsenic, chromium, copper and boron as well as dioxins, consistent with at least part of the buried sawdust and wood pieces being treated material.

The exposed face of the sawdust pile has been covered by a geotechnical cloth regularly reinforced with a sand bund since that time to stop further erosion of the site.