Port Stephens Council endorses draft Coastal Management Program

Earlier this week, Port Stephens Council unanimously endorsed the draft Coastal Management Program taking Port Stephens a step closer to further protecting its greatest coastal assets.

Mayor Ryan Palmer said that the endorsement was a major milestone to reach.

“This endorsement marks a significant step forward for Port Stephens, showing Council’s commitment to mitigate the impacts of coastal threats affecting our coastal zones,” Mayor Palmer said.

“The next step is to submit the endorsed Program to the State Minister for the Environment for certification, and once certified we can start implementation later in the year.”

“Our work on the Coastal Management Program started in 2019. We’ve worked through 4 stages to determine the coastal areas we needed to consider, the types of threats, and management options available to protect and enhance the Port Stephens coastline,” he added.

The draft Port Stephens Coastal Management Program outlines 67 management actions, 61 to be delivered by Council.

The management actions aim to mitigate the impacts of coastal inundation, tidal inundation, coastal erosion and dune transgression over the next 10 years.

Also, the actions of the 10 year plan will have a total cost of over $16 million.