FORESHORE TRACK

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 288, 5 December 1935, Page 9

FORESHORE TRACK

MAY BE CLOSED.

POPULAR TAKAPUNA WALK. RESIDENTS' RIPARIAN RIGHTS Residents of Takapuna and Milford and visitors to the beaches there will view with apprehension the possibility of the foreshore track, linking Takapuna beach with Milford, being closed to continuous traffic this summer. For many years there was a rough irack linking the two beaches, and more recently it was permanently formed in conjunction with the erection of the sewer along the rocky coast. Primarily it was a convenience for residents in the but with the growing popularity of the beaches hundreds of visitors use it, particularly in the week-ends. No doubt few of these pedestrians realised that for the most part they were trespassing on private property. This, however, will be forcibly brought home to them if the intention of at least one resident to extend his boundary fence to the limit of his riparian rights is carried out. This action will effectively block the track, the privilege of using which has been mistakenly regarded as a right. Intervening Beaches. Between Takapuna and Milford there are a few sheltered stretches of sand breaking the rocky foreshore. The most popular of them is Thome's Bay, and to and from this there is a lot of traffic over the track. For the most part this runs along the top of the sewer, but stretches of the path have been formed by the Takapuna Borough Council over the rocks. Much of the sewer and the track passes over private property, though the boundaries of the residential property have in most cases not been extended beyond it. The residents, having acquired the riparian rights, can legally extend their boundaries for beyond the track, and it is the declared intention of one resident to do so.

The resident concerned, and others, complain that tho privacy of their property has been lost in consequence of the pedestrian traffic and that it has created a nuisance to some. In addition, some of the residents are anxious to avail themselves of the right of extending their boundaries to mean high water, or partly so, which they are entitled to do. High Boundary Wall. The intention of one resident to build a stout, high wall to his boundary was brought before the notice of the Takapuna Borough Council in 1934, and an offer was made to concede 6ft of the property to the council to enable the track to be continuous. The council saw complications in this proposition in the expense which would be involved if other residents made similar requests. In addition there was the difficulty that the water, except at low tide, would bebeating over the track. The offer was in consequence declined. If the wall is built out as intended, the only way of going round it will be over the rocks, and through the water when the tide is in or coming in.

The Takapuna Council has been alive to the importance of the convenience to residents and visitors, and it is hoped that the efforts it is making will find a way out of the difficulty.