Posted on June 15, 2026
A long-time Stanmore Bay resident is calling on the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board and Auckland Council to take action to restore sand to a section of beach he says has steadily deteriorated over recent decades.
Former Rodney District Councillor and environmental consultant Rob Thompson says large areas of the beach north of the Stanmore Bay boat ramp have lost significant amounts of sand, leaving exposed rock where there was once a sandy shoreline.
Thompson and his wife have lived on Vipond Road for 35 years and have witnessed the changes firsthand.
He says that when they purchased their property in 1991, there were about 1.5 metres of sand at the bottom of their access track. Today, the sand has disappeared, exposing bedrock.
“The beach can be fixed,” Thompson says.
The affected coastline forms part of a public reserve stretching approximately 1.5 kilometres along the shore. Thompson believes Auckland Council has not done enough to protect the reserve since taking responsibility for the area following local government amalgamation in 2010.
He said concerns were raised with local councillors in 2015 after a major storm damaged rock structures installed to protect pōhutukawa trees and removed large amounts of sand.
According to Thompson, little action has been taken since.
He believes the loss of sand has been occurring for decades and points to historical accounts that suggest large quantities of sand were removed from the beach during World War II for military construction projects on Whangaparāoa Peninsula.
Thompson has proposed several possible solutions, including the construction of groynes to help retain sand, and the recovery of sand that he says now sits offshore on the seabed that could be retrieved with a suction dredge.
He is urging the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board to investigate options for restoring the beach and protecting what he describes as one of the Hibiscus Coast’s most valued coastal reserves.
“We hope that this beach reserve will become top of the list,” Thompson says.
