Council’s Natural Resources Unit has a number of significant Coastal Management Projects in progress, including:

Coastal Hazard Studies and Management Plan : this project valued at $450,000 is funded 1:1:1 from Federal : State and Council budgets and includes 16 separate coastal hazard studies (see attached site plan) and will produce a city wide coastal management plan which details sustainable development and emergency management of public and private assets in the coastal zone. Assets include infrastructure such as public access, utilities and buildings and the surrounding reserve network assets such as heritage items and vegetation communities that may be at risk from coastal hazards including beach erosion, beach recession, coastal inundation and climate change scenarios. The hazard studies are largely complete and Council consultants UMWELT will soon be holding a series of community workshops to commence the community consultation phase of the project during Spring  2007. Project link www.umwelt.com.au/shoalhaven-coastline/

Coastal Asset Management Plan: this plan is currently being developed to guide the strategic management of the extensive beach access and dune management infrastructure under Council control. Over 320 beach access points with associated assets are under maintenance and include 25 car parks, 15 km of dune fencing, 1 km of boardwalk, 2km of handrail, 2.5 km of board and chain track, 2km of access steps / stairs, 40 viewing platforms and 350 signs. Council inherited the maintenance responsibility for the many access points and dune management controls from the Beach Improvement Program of the 1980- 1990’s led by the State Government when repairing storm damage, and the reality is that Council is not resourced to manage this number of assets. Particularly as the condition of these assets is fast approaching the end of their design life and as they deteriorate and increasingly fail to meet the increased safety standards to which Council complies there is no option but to rationalise of the number of assets under management. Therefore the Asset Management Plan will identify the assets to be removed, particularly redundant fencing / viewing areas and dangerous or over serviced access points and identify and prioritise those assets to be retained and upgraded. This rationalisation will be undertaken on an equitable basis to enable the assets to be maintained under existing resource levels.

Coastal Maintenance Program: is the annual operating budget of $150,000 which routinely maintains beach access in as safe a condition as possible considering the naturally dynamic nature of the beach. Specialist contractor teams are engaged by Council to audit and undertake routine repairs of beach access points and to repair and replace hazard signage, clear access ways and minimise trip points and are directed by Council to initiate strategic upgrades of access points. Another focus of the program is to remove redundant assets and gradually upgrade the quality of beach access provisions to improve public safety and manage public risk.

Board and chain walkways have been of particular concern originally being installed to temporarily provide stable pedestrian access over mobile sand dunes during rehabilitation projects along with substantial fencing to protect stabilisation planting. Council was not advised that these measures should be selectively removed as dunes stabilised and now 20 years later they represent a significant maintenance burden and litigation risk. The maintenance program actively removes board and chain or caps the access ways with crushed sandstone to provide a stable foundation and minimise re emergence of trip points. Dune vegetation areas are now mature and the protective fencing now being buried by accreting beaches is being removed so buried fence wire does not present itself as a future public risk.

Future maintenance programs will also be guided by the Coastal Asset Management Plan and following any future storm damage the re instatement of access points and dune rehabilitation works will be detailed in the DISPLAN section of the Coastal Management Plan.

Recent successful applications to the State Government ( CMA)  for significant weed control works worth $150,000 on coastal headlands at Bendelong,  Cunjurong, Cudmirrah and Tabourie were based on Council’s financial commitment to providing and maintaining public access at each location. The success was also in recognition of Council’s low resource level to best manage the critical assets of Endangered Ecological Communities throughout our coastal reserve network and the need for the State to provide assistance to Council to support the community capacity held within the Bushcare Program.

Coastal Restoration Program: is a new Capital Works budget item $50,000 that will be linked to the Coastal Asset Management Program and the Coastal Management Plan. The budget will be used to fund major reconstruction of beach access points, which can be in the order of $25,000 each, or to repair storm erosion / dune degradation or to implement actions from the Coastal Management Plan. Council will use this budget to apply for grant funding assistance from the State Government to co fund these projects, many of which are on Council managed Crown land.

The budget is currently funding the rock protection and upgrade of the coastal path and park assets at the popular Mollymook Rock pools site and work is valued at $70,000 and funded in part by the Coastal Maintenance Program. Future projects include priority actions from completed Plans of Management for coastal reserves or investigation and design of future coastal protection works, for example Currarong, and survey of actively eroding beaches identified in the Coastal Hazard Studies including Callala Beach, Mollymook Beach, Collingwood beach and Culburra Beach or high priority repair of coastal access points / dune rehabilitation works.