Spotlight on long-term actions for Stockton’s coastline

The City of Newcastle, NSW, proposal for mass-offshore sand nourishment and immediate minimal buried seawall extension works in the draft Stockton Coastal Management Program (CMP) has received broad support through public exhibition, with 162 community and 19 agency submissions in total.

The City completed the 28-day public exhibition period on Tuesday. 74 percent of submissions were supportive of the Stockton CMP.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said that the high number of submissions showed how important a positive outcome for Stockton Beach was to the community.

“The level of feedback on the draft Stockton CMP is appreciated given the community engagement occurred during COVID-19 restrictions,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Staff had to work around typical face-to-face engagement activities in order to ensure the community’s voice was heard in the review of the CMP.

“Within days of the draft Stockton CMP going on public exhibition, more than 2,000 information packs including a summary of the plan, frequently asked questions and a reply paid feedback form and envelope were sent to each property in Stockton to ensure everyone had a chance to have their say,” the Lord Mayor said.

City of Newcastle’s CMP team will now review the community feedback as well as that from industry stakeholders, and finalize the document including a summary of the issues raised during the public exhibition period, for Council consideration on 23 June 2020. It will then be submitted to the NSW State Government for certification review.