15 June 2015

City Beaches Get Sand Makeover

From tomorrow, Wellington’s popular Freyberg and Oriental Bay beaches will get a much needed sand makeover.

Since the beach development in 2002, Oriental Bay has lost more than 120 cubic metres of sand each year. This loss of sand has always been expected as part of this project due to natural processes such as weather and wave action. To maintain the quality and size of the dry sand area on both beaches, 2,400 tons of sand will be trucked onto the beaches to bring them back to their original sand levels.

“Wellingtonians enjoy spending time on Freyberg and Oriental Bay beaches all year round - whatever the weather“, says Julian Todd, WCC Acting Parks Sport and Recreation Manager.

“To ensure they have a great experience, it’s important for sand levels to be maintained”, he says.

Sand is being transported from a Dunedin quarry by rail to Wellington and will then be delivered by truck to Freyberg beach. Once on the beach the sand will be spread in the eastern and main beach by truck and loader.

Around 20 truckloads of sand will be delivered each day. There is likely to be some disruption to the Freyberg carpark while this work is being carried out. Council will have traffic controls in place to manage truck movements and minimise impact to carpark and road users. Access to the beach will be restricted at certain times for safety reasons.

Activity will take place for a total of 6 days, 2 days at a time, throughout June.

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