Local Thrilled at Council Decision About Ngā Tapuwae o Toi Walkway

Yesterday the Whakatāne District Council decided community proposals to repair and re-establish the walkway.

Any proposals will need to meet Council health and safety, quality and maintenance standards. 

Deputy Mayor Julie Jukes recommended investigation into the availability of the $451,000 funding from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment which was granted in 2023. 

The committee also agreed to continue working with Ngāti Awa and the Department of Conservation on tourism opportunities for the track. 

A proposal process and timeline are still to be decided. 

Mayor Nándor Tánczos acknowledged the work would not be easy due to the sheer cliff face in parts of the track, but said the committee wants to give the community a chance.  

“I'm very confident they are able to come up with some really good solutions.”

He said the opportunity gives a sense of community value to those involved. 

“It is also about the sense of ownership that comes from people being part of something positive for our community and for future generations."

"This is an opportunity for us as a Council to find new ways of working with our community, and I'm very optimistic about what could come from that,” he said. 

Organiser of a volunteer run proposal to re-open the existing track Angus Robson said he is thrilled at the decision. 

"One of the comments that the Mayor made was that they really do see a big future in having community engagement and, we've always pushed for involving ourselves in the good for the district," Robson said.

He said previous community projects in the area have made an impact. 

Robson pointed to the Lions and Rotary clubs who built the squash club in Edgecumbe and the toilet blocks at West End, which created a feeling of community engagement.  

"You can look back at what you've done and we want to rekindle that and this is a great entry into it," he added. 

He said the community support has been overwhelming and thanks them "because if it wasn't for all those people that went to the meeting .... we wouldn't be where we are at the moment." 

Robson said their group is ready to work with Council to get work started. 

Their proposal has two sections.

The first is the general maintenance for the track which has a health and safety plan ready, and community support. 

"We had a meeting at West End there where 40 people came along and another 10 said they would help and so we think we can easily find 50 volunteers who would want to help just maintain the track."

He said work would be needed to ensure their health and safety plan aligns with DOC and the Council, but he said the group is ready to cooperate with the Council to get the job done.  

Robson said track designers will relook at their plans "to go to the next stage with a design which is basically to refine what we now know from the geotech reports which honestly doesn't really change anything." 

Another element left to look at is a flood gate at the start of the track at West End. 

The gate would shut the track whenever there was heavy or excess rain to prevent access for the next 24 hours. 

He said the gate will still be passible incase people need to get out, but it makes people who use the track anyway aware of the risk. 

Robson said once plans are finalised, the next step would be meeting with Council staff to ensure everyone involved is on the same page and plans are up to standard.

He said the design and budget will be confirmed in a few weeks, ready to propose to Council, at the same time as any other potential plans from the community. 

He said he hopes any proposals would be ready for discussion in a months time. 

"Then once we've got the go ahead there's only two months building," he said.

The design and decoration on the flood gate will determine how long the finishing touches of he track might take he said. 

Overall, he hopes work could be completed in four months, but he acknowledges Council processes will dictate the pace of the reopening.