Auckland Council has confirmed 18 of its 20 Shoreline Adaptation Plans, mapping how council-owned coastal assets will be managed in the face of erosion, flooding and sea-level rise over the next 100 years.

The plans cover much of the region’s 3,200km coastline and are intended to guide long-term decisions on things like boat ramps, jetties, wharves, seawalls, car parks and sports fields. Eleven plans were signed off in recent months, including areas such as the Waitematā Harbour West, Weiti Estuary to Devonport Peninsula, Aotea/Great Barrier and outer Hauraki Gulf islands, the Kaipara Harbour, and parts of the Manukau and Tāmaki estuaries.

Policy and Planning Committee chair Richard Hills said Auckland’s exposure to coastal hazards meant the council needed to “take another look at the way we help to manage these changes” and plan for both existing and future infrastructure. The council worked with mana whenua, communities and local boards on the plans.

General manager Paul Klinac said the documents are “living” and take a systems approach across three climate scenarios. The plans set direction using four broad strategies:

• Maintain: keep existing defences operating and manage safety, while accepting the shoreline will move.
• Protect: defend high-use or high-value council land and assets, for example with seawalls or dune planting.
• No action: allow natural processes where council assets are not exposed.
• Adaptation priority: plan further with communities for higher-risk areas, which could include relocating assets, changing land use, or redesigning infrastructure to be more resilient.

The council says the work also helps meet its climate change obligations. The release does not specify timelines or budgets for individual projects that may follow from the plans, nor which two plans remain to be finalised.

More detail on each plan is available on the council’s website.