A plan to manage the beaches, coastal lagoons and estuaries of Gosford City has been considered by Central Coast Council Administrator and will be sent to the NSW Minister for the Environment for certification.
The Draft Plan was originally prepared by the former Gosford Council and submitted to the then Minister for Planning and Environment, who returned it requesting revision in consultation with a NSW Government Agency concerning the management of land at Patonga and Pearl Beach.
Those consultations have resulted in agreement about the future management of those sites, and enabled the amended Plan to be endorsed for submission to the new Minister.
The primary purpose of the plan was to describe proposed actions to be implemented by Council, other public authorities, and by the private sector to address priority management issues in the coastal zone between 2015 and 2025.
According to the draft plan, “These issues include managing risks to public safety and built assets, and pressures on coastal ecosystems and community uses of the coastal zone.
“The primary objective of this plan is to protect and preserve the beach environments, beach amenity, public access and social fabric of the Open Coast and Broken Bay beaches while managing coastal hazard risks to people and the environment,” the draft plan said.
The Draft Gosford Beaches Coastal Zone Management Plan will not take effect until it is certified by the Minister.
Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, said the Plan provided the foundation for the development of appropriate planning controls that would protect the coastline now and into the future.
“This will be welcome news for those who live along the coast as it will provide firm guidelines on what can and cannot be built on privately owned or public land,” Mr Reynolds said.
“The Plan sets out clear roles and responsibilities for private landowners, Council and other public authorities to plan and manage the coastline as well as respond to coastal hazards as the need arises.
“Our beaches are one of our greatest natural assets and we need to ensure that there is a proper framework in place that balances the need for sustainable development, where it can happen, while ensuring our coastal environment is protected and enhanced now and well into the future.”
The draft plan, which was prepared by consultants, WorleyParsons, described Gosford City’s coastline as “diverse and spectacular” and including “amongst the most dynamic beaches on the east coast of Australia”.
According to the draft plan, it complements the development of Plans for the Lower Hawkesbury River Estuary (2009), Brisbane Water (2012), Pearl Beach Lagoon (2014) and Gosford’s Coastal Lagoons (2015).
The draft plan was put together following a coastal zone study and community and stakeholder consultation during 2015, and a Coastal sub-committee of the former Gosford Council was also instrumental in the formulation of the draft plan.
Once the draft plan has been adopted by the Minister, the next step is to implement the management measures listed within the plan over a 10 to 15 year timeframe.
According to the draft plan, certain measures can be implemented quickly “such as development and building controls, hazard education, public awareness and dune management programs”.
However, the draft plan also acknowledged that “availability of funding will determine when certain options can be implemented”, such as structural measures or voluntary purchase of property.
Management actions in the plan have been recommended for each beach, based on the specific coastal hazard risks identified, along with the effectiveness of existing coastal management measures, recommendations of previous studies and specific issues of importance raised by the local community.
It stated that “the major challenges across the beaches relate to land use and development”, and that Coastal adaptation options have been developed for each beach aligned to four broad strategies for managing future coastal risk: defend; accommodate; retreat; and maintain the status quo.
The draft plan explains each broad strategy.
The plan intends that some management options will be applied to all beaches covered including a beaches water quality improvement plan in the first year of the plan.
This will assist Council in identifying pollutant sources and implementing a management response through works, catchment controls, compliance and education activities.
Another short-term action required by Council under the plan will be the development of emergency action processes in the form of a Coastal Erosion and Inundation Emergency Response Plan.
Council will also establish a centralised information system for geotechnical information relevant to coastal frontage development.
An ongoing beach and infrastructure monitoring program is also to be developed by council with a one-year timeframe.
Within two-to-five years, according to the plan, Council will implement an ongoing public education program on coastal management issues at a cost of $20,000 per year.
A beach nourishment strategy will be another two-to-five-year management action for all beaches covered by the plan, at a cost of $50,000.
A $210,000 dune management and beach scraping strategy is also included in the plan with a two-to-five year timeframe.
This would include dune vegetation mapping, weed mapping and vegetation profiling, developing a works program for individual beaches, preparation of environmental assessment and obtaining relevant licenses, investigating reactive scraping following storm events and proactive scraping to build dunes while there is sand available on the beaches, and community engagement and involvement of dune care and bush care teams.
Council, in conjunction with the State Government, will also undertake an inventory and management strategy of rocky shore habitats across the study area.
Coast Community News will report on the specific measures proposed for each beach within the Gosford City area over coming editions of the newspaper.
Source:
Media release, Apr 26
Ian Reynolds, Central Coast Council
Document, Apr 3
Gosford Beaches Draft Coastal Zone Management Plan, WorleyParsons Resources and Energy