Gold Coast Beach Strategy Pays Off

The Queensland’s City of Gold Coast multi-million dollar commitment to its beaches has paid off, with new figures from the Ocean Beaches Strategy mid-life review revealing favorable progress in protecting the coastline, the city said in its latest release. 

Commenting the latest achievement, Mayor Tom Tate, said: “Our Ocean Beaches Strategy is now past halfway and haven’t we come a long way. Gold Coast beaches suffered from significant erosion after a series of intense storms between 2009 and 2013.”
 
“We now have sufficient sand on our beaches to ensure their resilience against future coastal hazards, we have 80 per cent of seawalls built and certified and our community are very happy with our beaches.”
 
“There is still work to be done and challenges ahead such as population increase and climate change, however I’m confident we will be able to manage these factors as they arise,” said Mayor Tate.

Achievements from the Ocean Beaches Strategy include:

• An additional five kilometers of Oceanway has been constructed;
• The $18.2 million Palm Beach Artificial Reef is nearing completion;
• Gold Coast Beach Nourishment project delivered 3,026,758m³ of sand to the City’s beaches to increase protection against erosion and major storm events by widening the beach and dunes at key locations across the city;
• 9 locations for beach accessibility equipment;
• 9000 meters of public seawalls have been constructed or certified since 2013;
• More than 7000 tonnes of specialist rocks used to extend Kirra Point groyne to 180m;
• 60,000m³ of sand moved from Currumbin and Tallebudgera Creeks to Burleigh Heads and Palm Beach as part of annual dredging program;
• Narrowneck reef renewal.