Sand nourishment on agenda of NSW councils meeting

Central Coast Councillor Corinne Lamont has managed to get a motion about sand nourishment on the agenda at the NSW Local Government conference to be held at Tamworth on November 17-19.

The NSW association of councils allows a motion to be put forward if signed by the mayor and general manager.

Lamont didn’t raise the idea after the first ordinary meeting of Central Coast Council in October but a majority of the Coast’s 15 councillors agreed with the sentiment and that allowed Mayor Lawrie McKinna and CEO David Farmer to submit it to the Local Government conference.

The motion asks the NSW Government to establish a NSW Beach Taskforce to develop a program to assist NSW coastal councils to access offshore sand to improve beach amenity.

Lamont is a member of Wamberal SOS (Save Our Sand) which is opposed to the seawall proposed to be built at Wamberal.

Currently three development applications for seawalls are being assessed by Central Coast Council: two that would extend along Wamberal Beach a third which would extend from 1 Hutton Rd, The Entrance North, to 15 Hutton Rd.

Wamberal SOS says sand nourishment is a better solution.

The note to explain the motion states that many councils increasingly face issues with coastal erosion, impacting beach amenity and property. 

“An effective adaptive response to this issue is sustainable offshore-sourced sand nourishment,” the note states.

“For individual councils, offshore sand nourishment access is limited, especially compared with other states. 

“Fortunately, statewide policy and legislation provides access rights to offshore sand sources for beach nourishment; however, councils look for state support with infrastructure and co-ordination to deliver sand nourishment as a ‘shared service’ along the NSW coast, integrated with local council and community action.

“This Motion asks the NSW Government to develop a co-ordinated statewide response to offshore sand sourcing for beach nourishment, including possibly establishing a needs-based statewide offshore sand nourishment program. 

“This program would include gaining environmental approvals, setting funding mechanisms, confirming ground rules, procuring or sourcing appropriate nourishment infrastructure such as a dredge, and prioritising the treatment of beaches at risk.”

It builds on a motion from Northern Beaches Council which states that the NSW Government has “increasingly withdrawn” from coastal management in NSW.

Lamont, one of five voting delegates at the conference, is expected to speak to the motion on Monday, November 18.

Central Coast Council has a second motion on the conference agenda.

It asks the conference to call on the Minister for Local Government to withdraw the Performance Improvement Orders (PIO) imposed on councils coming out of administration as a matter of urgency and to restore local democracy to those councils.

After four years of council under administration, the PIO on Central Coast Council limits the decisions the newly elected councillors can make for the first 12 months of their four-year term.

The conference will deal with more than 100 motions put forward by NSW councils.

They include issues such as containing cats indoors, rules that dog owners must attend dog training classes, one library card for the entire NSW no matter what council area you live in and many more.

Merilyn Vale