Protect Wooli

Protect Wooli From Coastal Erosion

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Heads in the Sand?

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You might remember our article early this year thanking DuneCare for creating a healthy fore dune. The article also raised the concern that “..we are worried that the fore dunes  that have been built up might be taken by a big storm and then it takes us 6 months to organise a beach scraping project (to repair it) – and there could be another storm in that time which could seriously damage the main dune.”

Well those two storms in June brought this fear very much to the fore as the fore dune lost about half its sand and the foot of the main dune was exposed in several places. As that article foreshadowed  “..Based on very experienced independent advice, the CCPA steering committee has begun the next step of working with the Council to have a beach scraping plan pre-approved and pre-funded so as to be ready when it’s needed to quickly repair the fore dune.”

 

CCPA’s success in proactively working with Council to develop the CZMP (which includes scraping) provided an encouraging basis for this discussion.
But on the other hand, CCPA has been unsuccessfully promoting beach scraping (also known as Nature Assisted Beach Enhancement ) as a  practical measure to mitigate risks at Wooli for a number of years.

The four barriers to NABE raised during these promotions are listed below, each followed by the independent –expert advice that CCPA has received.

  • Using NABE would weaken the CZMP case with State Depts. for using beach nourishment

          NABE is a short term management technique to overcome erosion which can occur when multiple storms occur in a relatively short period. It is not in competition with beach nourishment     and in fact is often used in conjunction with beach nourishment, as well as on its own.

  • There is insufficient evidence/studies proving the value of NABE

         This is incorrect. There are many papers available demonstrating the value of beach scraping, some of which are summarised in the 2016 NSW Conference papers. The Engineers Australia   2013 Conference also had an extended seminar on the topic with a very large list of references.

  • Wooli beach is a net-loser of sand so the scraped sand would not be replaced

         This is again incorrect. Whether a beach is or is not a net loser of sand it is where that sand is stored on the beach that is critical from the point of view of limiting main dune erosion. If some  of the sand is stored in beach-scraped dunes then they form a buffer which can absorb some or all of the erosion before the main dune is exposed to direct attack. New Brighton is a classic  example of this.

  • There are no funds available, even for a Pilot study, even if CCPA largely funded it

          Even if CCPA pays there are no funds ? The logic eludes me. Besides, State grant funds are made available for community and council projects.

 

Unfortunately, our recent discussion with Council was only successful in identifying a fifth barrier, which is

  • that NABE is included in the CZMP and so can’t be used until the CZMP is approved by the Minister. Until then, NABE was considered to be outside the official CZMP process.

 Many councils have been successfully using NABE for many decades without the need for a certified CZMP and so councils shouldn’t use the absence of a certified CZMP as an excuse for not undertaking NABE.

 

 

In the absence of community-led NABE , the official approach is firstly to encourage DuneCare to rebuild the fore dune (which of course they are) and secondly to wait until the CZMP process is complete. Optimistically this would mean NABE could not proceed until at least 2018 which is the earliest time in which the CZMP foresees the beach needing sand renourishment. The underpinning assumptions here are that the main dune survives this summer’s cyclone season (forecast to be worse than usual) as well as the 2017 winter storms.

The possible ray of sunshine is a rumour that the Minister may include his support for NABE in his presentation at November’s NSW Coastal Conference. Armed with that, CCPA will be approaching not only Council Officers but also our elected Councillors urging them to get behind the urgent repair work needed on Wooli’s dunes.

 

 

 

Is the peak in sight?

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bureaucracy-editedIt’s not obvious at first, but if you look more closely, the peak of the bureaucratic mountain to be climbed to get Wooli’s Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) approved definitely looks closer.climb-map

In case fatigue has dimmed you memory of our climb over the last year or so, here’s a refresher of the main stages so far. The big news is that the CZMP has finally been sent from Council to the Minister for approval.

peak-editedWhile that progress is very welcome, the expert advice we’ve had warns the route ahead will be tricky, meaning we are unlikely to reach the summit of a certified CZMP until  first-quarter 2017.

 

 

What does Court ruling on Byron case mean for Wooli?

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Gavel

If the recent legal fireworks at Byron Bay haven’t crossed your radar yet, here’s the report from the ABC.

The Australian newspaper also covered the story (thanks to David Hall for alerting us).

Highlights from the Supreme Court’s ruling on two long running cases were not only the awarding of several million dollars to Belongil property owners for damage caused by walls erected at Main Beach by Byron Council but also an order stopping Council proceeding with plans to remove walls protecting Belongil.

Does this mean CCPA should also be taking its case to court for better protection of Wooli beach? The broad conclusions the CCPA steering committee reached after expert advice are:

  • The court decisions are fairly specific to Byron as they appear to be heavily dependent on the actions that Council took at their Johnson Street site
  • It’s therefore unlikely to negate Planned Retreat policies at other councils
  • It’s also unlikely to make construction of rock walls any easier as the ruling says only that existing walls will be retained. Any proposed new walls would need to go through the Development Application process with council
  • Our expert advice about the implications for Wooli’s breakwaters were that “they were constructed by Public Works, (with) no input from Council”. So any legal case proposing our breakwaters were complicit in Wooli’s erosion (like the Johnson St walls were at Belongil) would have to target the State Government not Council.

 

Federal Support for Coastal Protection

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Since CCPA’s inception, our discussions with government about protecting Wooli have been with either the Council or the NSW State government.

collaroy damageSo, following June’s massive storm and the damage it did particularly at Collaroy, it’s pleasing to read this letter of support from federal government MP Stuart Robert to Premier Mike Baird in which he backs the new coastal legislation  and encourages the Premier to “continue to make living on the coastline practical and safe”.

Thanks to Roger Welch for successfully pursuing this federal support for Wooli and the coast. CCPA members may like to share this example with their local MPs with the view that more of them might pen similar letters to the NSW Premier and the Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

 

 

Staying Ahead of the Joneses

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No fore dune at Jones Beach

As reported in our recent story, Wooli beach dodged a bullet; its fore dune prevented damage to the main dune from June’s (east coast low) storm.

Storm surges into bush land

However, Jones Beach next to the southern breakwater does not have the benefit of a fore dune. These pictures from Roger Welch show how the storm surge penetrated deeply into the bush behind the beach.

 

 

Finding ways to prevent similar incursions on Wooli Beach is clearly a priority for the Protect Wooli campaign so our beach doesn’t have a repeat of the 1995 experience.

1995 near the school (thanks Leone for the pic)

 

Here are a couple of ways of doing this:

  • firstly, each of us can be part of the DuneCare effort to replace, recover and restore the sand traps hit by the storm so that the wind-blown sand rebuilds the fore dune asap. Contact Sharon on 0448602898 if you can help with this. Thanks to Elaine Pearce and friends from Old Bar Beach community who recently donated several rolls of shade cloth to us
  • secondly, the CCPA steering committee will continue to lobby the Council to use a beach scrape to help nature and DuneCare quickly repair the most damaged areas before the next storm arrives. So far Council has focused on the bureaucratic difficulties of doing this while denying the benefits. We may need your support to raise funds for recognised experts to help CCPA progress this initiative.