We have until next Wednesday 17 November to offer our thoughts about the proposed Coastal Erosion Policy (Draft) and Amended Coastal Zone Management Plan. Download the draft plan pdf here
I strongly advise reading the linked document above and then you should fill out the survey here to add your voice!
Here’s my submission:
I believe that a reasonably broad beach – passable even at high tides and after major storms – should be maintained by nourishing the beach with offshore sand.
I believe seawalls fundamentally disrupt the natural profile of the beach in Area 2 particularly but I accept that a seawall is likely to be built there. However, I believe that the seawall should be built as far shoreward as possible to maintain a passable beach.
I see the most important function of the wall not being to protect private property, but to ensure key public infrastructure is maintained – namely Pittwater Road.
There is strong evidence that sea level rise is accelerating and over the next 50 years it is not inconceivable that rises of 0.7 to 1 metre (or more) are possible. In coming decades Pittwater Road will have to be protected by increasingly drastic means and I therefore believe that a seawall should be engineered with that future need in mind.
Whether or not this would allow any structures to remain seaward of Pittwater Road as well as a strip of passable beach, I wouldn’t claim to know.
But it is my strong view that in deciding how best to manage Area 2 the order of priorities should be
1) protecting Pittwater Rd from the inevitable sea level rise;
2) protecting the beach with sand nourishment;
3) protecting private property.
