After years of watching the sea inch closer to their homes — and being told to accept it or leave — Port Waikato locals have refused to give up, building their own $400,000 seawall to hold the coastline in place.
By Jordan Smith of Local Democracy Reporting
"This is not the case of the big boys running us down... we're going to do it the right way, the decent way," Sunset Beach Surf Lifesaving Trust chair Malcolm Beattie said.
Now eight weeks into operation, the 1.3m high, 366m-long wall stands as proof of what persistence can achieve — even when progress felt impossible.
Beattie said getting to this point meant pushing through years of resistance.
"That three years was just total push back, push back, push back by council... they just put us through hoops that I think were just unacceptable and lacked integrity," he said.
Those hoops included dealing with a senior consenter from Waikato District Council, who "completely obstructed us for over a year", while locals watched the shoreline erode in real time — all while funding the project themselves.
WDC declined an interview but said in a statement that an independent commissioner was brought in to determine consent, describing the seawall as a community-led effort to protect dunes, public spaces and nearby homes.
For Beattie, that decision only reinforced the community's resolve.
"We were just standing here watching it disappear and people telling us 'well, get over it, move away'."
Instead, they stayed — and built.
For residents like Sheyrl Martin, the result is simple but significant.
"Well, it means saving the house doesn't it?" she said.
"We just hope we've got a long life here... we're always going to live here until medically something happens and then we can't."
Martin said she and her husband Gordon had previously been told to demolish a two-storey building sitting just three metres from the eroding bank.
"We had to move it because otherwise we would have been in the sea."
But the locals aren’t stopping there.
The Trust is now pushing ahead with a new walkway to maintain beach access for residents and surf lifesavers — again funded and built by the community after being told it wasn't feasible.
"I think we've broken the law but to hell with it, you know, put me in jail. We just decided to do it, we've said it's all part of this and now you've seen the result."
That determination has restored more than just sand.
"The locals are over the moon about it, and they see that they can have a little bit of pride back there."
The real test is still to come, with winter storms and a predicted 4.3-metre king tide in September set to challenge the structure.
"We know all the elements are gonna hit us about that date, and it's going to be 'hold on to your seat'."
"If it holds out on that, then I say we've achieved it."
Looking ahead, the Trust has secured a 25-year consent from Waikato Regional Council for ongoing sand push-ups — a commitment Beattie says the community is prepared to carry.
"I understand this is a little backwater but you know, its $60,000 a year. They spend more on toilet paper," he quipped.
Any future extension of the seawall would still require further consideration and consenting, WDC said.
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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