Council to fix Coast beaches
Mon 08 June 2009
Joshua Cummings, Journalism
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council is set to repair five beach access points completely demolished by Tropical Cyclone Hamish in 2009.
Five of 128 beach accesses have been closed since Tropical Cyclone Hamish ripped through the Sunshine Coast in early March.
The repair of the five accesses has now been included in a five-year council capital works program.
Repair of three of the beach accesses needs to be addressed immediately.
The work will cost the SCRC a further $60,000.
A council submission said access M91A funding was originally allocated within the 09/10 capital works budget, but needed to be brought forward.
The council submission said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considered beach access less important than the changing coastline environment.
Councillor Chris Thompson said beach accesses were vital to the Sunshine Coast.
“Hundreds of people come up from Brisbane and around Australia to use our beaches,” Cr Thompson said.
“They are a natural asset which need to be cared for.”
Councillor Debbie Blumel supported Cr Thompson, and said people used accesses which were not safe.
Beach erosion was also a concern on the Coast.
Council infrastructure director Andrew Ryan told councillors big swells had devastated beaches such as Mooloolaba Spit and Alexandra Headland.
“We have an erosion plan but beach accesses have been badly affected,” Mr Ryan said.
Cr Thompson said there had been a net loss of sand.
“The amount of sand coming back has been less and less each year,” Cr Thompson said.
Mayor Bob Abbot said other areas such as Byron Bay in NSW experienced serious erosion problems, which cost that council $30 million.
“If we don’t do something about it, we won’t survive another summer here,” Cr Thompson said.
Cr Abbot recommended areas of the Sunshine Coast required constant dredging, and that it would be appropriate to recycle the sand for sandbag barriers.
Cr Thompson agreed with the Mayor, and said too much money was spent on useless infrastructure.
“Why are we building elaborate and expensive structures when we have to spend a fortune repairing them,” Cr Thompson said.
Cr Thompson recommended the use of basic paths and fences, which would not require much maintenance.
It would also include outdoor furniture and park seats being constructed of alloy rather than wood.
Cr Thompson said the SCRC needed to take the EPA’s stance into consideration, adding council needed to build sturdy, wider accesses which would cater for more people to view at a time.
Councillor Jenny McKay suggested accesses which were within 50m of one another be removed and more signage be added.
“We need to reduce the number of access points and we need to put fences up with good signage so people know why they can’t use them,” Cr McKay said.
Cr Thompson said the cost of weather-struck beaches on the Sunshine Coast was estimated at $60 million.
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