Jim Dahm, a leading coastal erosion scientist, Rob Brown, a marine structural engineer, staff from Far North District Council and Far North Holdings and key leaders as well as Heritage NZ have been here looking carefully at the beach and foreshore erosion and assessing what is temporary erosion and if there is any new and permanent erosion with the purpose of coming up with recommendations the community can consider that will attempt to remediate the damage. They had a chance to meet some residents who grew up in Russell as children and the museum experts to share images and memories. They also met some organisation and business leaders, and the Russell Wharf Trust team. As an outcome of this visit, the goal now is to have drafted up options which would meet consenting requirements which will then be shared with the community, with key organisations and individuals to understand their opinions of the options and in due course move forward. This is still in the early stages but there is also a sense of urgency as recent damage has had a significant impact on the south side of the beach and clearly some remediation needs to occur.

As soon as the expert advice in response to their visit is received there will be every opportunity for the community to consider the options and subject to funding being available to make decisions which we all hope will lead to some agreed action.