Continuing coastal erosion has been an ongoing threat to some of Australia’s iconic beachfront caravan parks, most famously the one at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales.
On the other side of the country, many years of erosion at Lancelin in WA has seen the ocean advance significantly, eating into a ‘buffer zone’ and causing a flood risk to the town’s caravan park.
The local council, though, has just decided to spend $500,000 to redevelop the erosion-plagued foreshore park in front of the Lancelin Caravan Park despite concerns it will be ‘overtopped’ by storm surges within 10 years.
WA Today reports that an engineering firm commissioned to inform coastal planning reported that foreshore areas were ‘susceptible to the impacts of wave run-up … which may result in overtopping of dunes and foreshore structures’.
The paper said that Lancein’s Grace Darling Park, once protected by 50 metres of grass and a four-wheel-drive track, is now frequently closed after storms as the thin remaining beach erodes.
The council currently brings in sand to shore up the structures and limestone to keep open the track, costing tens of thousands of dollars a year raised via special levy.
After conducting the coastal erosion studies requested by the state, and after a major storm last August, WA Today reports that shire staff advised the council to close the point to cars and rehabilitate the dune.
“The landscape of this area is not what it was,” they wrote.
The fear was the dune structure lost in the storm had provided a significant buffer, and that the area from park to point now represented a serious flood risk for the caravan park and townsite.
To replace the track would essentially remove the remaining dune vegetation between caravan park and water line.
“This would be disastrous, and would create an even larger breach point in an area that already needs serious protection measures,” they wrote.
However, WA Today reports that the council has now released a plan for a car park, boardwalk, gazebo, lawns, plantings, road resurfacing, new footpaths and more sand, in the same place as the existing park and in line with plans done four years ago, before the coastal hazard mapping.
The park will cost $500,000 – half from the federal government and half from the shire.
Shire of Gingin chief executive Aaron Cook said the public was well aware of the area’s vulnerability.
The infrastructure could be removed in the future should the erosion continue to escalate, but enabled the area to be better utilised for the years prior and would help strengthen the area against erosion and flooding.
“Council is concerned that coastal erosion may certainly impact the upgrades in the near future but ultimately Council represents the community which has expressly demonstrated that they would prefer to retain access,” Mr Cook said.
The area is extremely popular with kitesurfers and windsurfers.
Their was a little beach town, near Ocean Shores NSW Known as Crows Nest, it was totally washed away, in the early 70’s. The state, and shire did not try and fight it, they just evacuated the village, and it was gone in the next big storm, The powers to be that the writing was on the wall back then to save towns, and even said back then, that Byron Bay, will go that way too. The governments around the countries, are going to have to grow a set of balls, and just walk away. If you are a property owner, you will have to do likewise. Insurance Companies did not pay for the loss of Crows Nest. If you build or buy in those areas, expect it to happen…