Talk of a cycle-way linking Snells Beach to Warkworth travelling along the north side of the Mahurangi River has occurred over many years.
Early in 2015 some members of the Snells Beach Ratepayers and Residents Association formed an ad-hoc walkway group in an attempt to develop this idea further. A report had been commissioned by the Rodney District Council in 2009 to look at the feasibility of a route from the Warkworth Town Centre to a point opposite the Cement Works. Building on this, the group spoke to land owners, surveyed possible routes and developed sufficient information to obtain a Rodney board grant to engage Frame Consultants to carry out a more authoritative study.
This was completed and issued in March 2016 which concluded the project was feasible, a Grade 2 cycle-way design was appropriate, and for a capital cost of $4.4m.
In addition this Walkway group made input to the Greenways Plan which was adopted by the Rodney Local Board.
In September 2016 the SBRRA decided that to progress the development of the walkway further, which covered areas outside of Snells Beach, a more formal structure should be set up, and to this end a sub committee was formed.
To get runs on the board, the new committee decided to construct one section of the route outlined in the Frame report – namely the Marginal Strip linking Grange Street to Hamatana Road. In addition the feasibility of the route proposed by the Frame report along the river to Walkworth was investigated further.
The marginal strip section required a land use Agreement, a Resource Consent, a Community Led Initiative grant, and involved a number of parties, Doc, AK Council, and private land owners. In some ways a learning curve for all concerned.
Early 2019, having obtained all the necessary authorities work commenced and in November that year a celebration held along the track to mark the achievement.
The council in turn agreed to a joint study to look at the proposed track from Duck Creek to Warkworth using Barker and Associates, and again using the information the Walkway group had developed. Kauri die-back has become a key stumbling block near the Duck Creek end, and alternative routes are currently being investigated.
At the Warkworth end, the historic Lime kilns presented a possible problem but a study by Salmond Reed has defined a sensible route to enable the cycle-way to be developed along with public access to the kiln site.
It is clear the range of work involved in such a development is beyond the capability of the SBRRA, and so it was agreed a separate association should be set up to take on this endeavour. Thus the formation of the Mahurangi Trail Society which was set up and registered in December 2019.
Terry Norris