Our current coastal protection work centres around the protection of Council-managed community assets around Batemans Bay.
We've been using sandbags at Long Beach to temporarily protect Bay Road from coastal erosion. Our early efforts had many hands grasping big needles to sew shut the sand-filled sacks. We got smarter, more recently buying bags with built-in Velcro closures, saving us time and money, and some blisters too.
Now we've compared all the options based on social, environmental and economic factors, finding a rock revetment to be Long Beach's best long-term solution. It's cost effective, long lasting, and looks so much better than a concrete wall (or sandbags!). It also allows for the existing Norfolk pines along the shoreline.
McLeods Beach, a low-lying area at the western end of Surfside, is at risk of swamping in coastal storms. We're designing a raised embankment that protects infrastructure and improves access, with scope to add more height and length in the future. Meanwhile the north end of Surfside Beach needs more sand – Transport for NSW is responsible for that but we're advocating it be done as quickly as possible.
The sea is also encroaching on Wharf Road at North Batemans Bay, particularly at that sharp bend in the road. Here, a sea wall will reduce wave damage during storms and big seas. It will continue along the beach to join the seawall at Easts Riverside Holiday Park, giving us scope to raise the road in the future. Looking further south still, we're planning to rebuild bigger and better at Batehaven's Caseys Beach, where waves are breaking over the current seawall and damaging Beach Road.
- This story was first published in Council's quarterly newsletter for residents, Living in Eurobodalla. A printed edition is delivered to Eurobodalla's 26,000 households.
