Saving the sand dunes

An excavator works beside the geo-textile bags at Middle Beach in Dunedin yesterday. About 500m of geo-bags had earlier been placed at the foot of the dunes at Kettle Park to create a protective wall in front of the old landfill. Work aimed at preventing erosion started in April. "Cost savings may be realised in this project due to the prevalence of northeasterly winds over recent months contributing to a large volume of sand accumulating along the beach," a report for the Dunedin City Council’s infrastructure services committee said. Council transport manager Jeanine Benson said this week "all weathers" had not yet been thrown at the area since the bags had been in place and how they performed would be watched in the coming months.