Flax Relocation on new Back Beach Access Route

Flax will be relocated next week to improve public safety on a new path that will avoid an urupa at Back Beach.

Next week the Council will be removing flax from the lower part of a paper road between Centennial Drive and the beach, and repositioning them into bare areas to encourage people who are on the path to stay away from steep drop-offs.

The paper road is being readied for public use as a pathway following the discovery last year of human bones in an eroding cliff-face at the beach.

Following discussions with iwi, it was decided to close the existing unformed pathway that crossed the newly-discovered urupa. Instead, a new unsealed car park will be established near the corner of Centennial Drive and Beach Road to indicate the entrance to a new path to the beach that will avoid the urupa.

Manager Parks Mark Bruhn says the paper road travels close to a wetland, so the flax relocation needs to be done now while the soil is dry.

“We have discussed this new public route with iwi and the Taranaki Herpetological Society, and we’re all happy with it,” he says.

“We’ll eventually install pole markers to indicate the route, and the flax bushes will be repositioned in gaps where people could otherwise get too close to the cliff’s edge for their safety.”

The Council hopes to have the new route ready for use by the middle of the year.