A government-funded study by coastal engineers into beach erosion from Byron Bay to Hastings Point warned of ongoing erosion 47 years ago, and urged governments to act to prevent further loss of property.
Strap yourself in people, and let’s dive into what coastal engineers suggest governments should do to protect coasts, and whether they are taking the advice.
The 1978 study, entitled, The Byron Bay – Hastings Point Erosion Study, was supported with a foreword by then-NSW Deputy Premier, Jack Ferguson.
Erosion causes
Ferguson wrote, ‘The study represents two years of intensive work by a team of coastal engineering experts who have succeeded in identifying the causes of the erosion. They have also outlined a range of options for combating the problem’.
The study warns that the ‘erosion threat will ultimately cause serious economic and social problems for the entire Byron Bay-Hastings Point region’.
It reads, ‘The investigation has clearly established the existence of a serious long-term erosion trend in the area which is shown to be the result of a natural sediment imbalance, evidenced by more sand leaving than entering the region’.
‘There is a growing body of evidence that a situation of long-term beach erosion exists not only in the Byron Bay area, but along much of the NSW coastline. The sand is not returning to the beach system after storms, and the loss of sand is not being compensated for by new sources of beach-forming material’.
Recommendations
The study recommends measures such as the ‘re-zoning of affected areas’, as well as ‘an assistance scheme aimed at re-establishing families, industries and public assets well behind the hazard zones’.
‘An insurance scheme to cover landowners against erosion is another possible solution’.
As for engineering solutions, the authors wrote, ‘Another method of dealing with the erosion problem is the construction of engineering works such as seawalls, groynes, offshore breakwaters and sand nourishment programs’.
‘A well-constructed seawall can protect properties against the sea for many years, but will eventually cause a reduction in the beach width, ultimately causing protected areas to become a boulder coast, as has already happened in front of the surf club area at Byron Bay. Loss of the beach would seriously reduce the tourist potential of the area.
‘Groynes are structures built perpendicular to the coastline.
‘Groynes do not prevent erosion, but they can be used to transfer to elsewhere. ‘They can stabilise a section of the coast, while maintaining a sandy beachfront.
‘A long-term maintenance program would ensure continuing protection.
‘Offshore breakwaters are structures built parallel to the shore outside the surf zone. They form an artificial reef on which waves break and reduce wave energy attacking the beach.
‘They may change the surfing amenity of the beach and cause major changes to the current systems resulting in increased erosion to the north.
‘Sand nourishment is the mechanical placement of sand on a beach. Nourishment sand provides a reservoir to feed the demand for sand by waves, thus minimising the erosion of the foreshores. However, sand nourishment depends upon the availability of sand resources for continuous maintenance which can be moved without causing problems in another area’.
From protection to management
Coastal engineer and former Pittwater Council general manager, Angus Gordon OAM, was one of the authors of the study.
As a result of that study, Mr Gordon became involved in the drafting and implementation of the NSW Coastal Protection Act 1979, which was later replaced in 2016 by the Coastal Management Act. Mr Gordon was also involved with the formation of that law.
At 78 years young, he has more than 40 years of experience with coastal engineering, coastal management and planning projects.
Mr Gordon told The Echo the only workable solution to erosion is not developing on coastlines or using sand nourishment programs, which are expensive. Such programs exist on the Gold Coast, for example.
He says The Coastal Protection Act 1979, for all its flaws, did place coastal and development protection at the forefront.
‘Under that Act, there were also coastal panels, chaired by experts, which guided development and management. I was on this panel.
‘In the late ’80s, Byron Council adopted a policy of planned retreat.
‘It was applied throughout different times, and included the requirement that coastal buildings be removable.
‘But political changes within Byron Council made it unreliable as a policy, and it wasn’t helped by the Land & Environment Court.
‘The court championed some pretty dumb solutions with coastal management – they don’t have expertise in the field or local knowledge.
‘Another issue is the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act), which doesn’t properly define natural hazards, and instead they are just taken note of. It treats everything as discretionary, or as a consideration, i.e. distance of setbacks for example’.
The EP&A needs a major review, Mr Gordon says, to define natural hazards.
Plans v programs
‘When the Coastal Management Act was introduced in 2016, NSW governments moved away from being responsible for coastal management, leaving it to councils.
‘Under the 1979 law, there were Coastal Management Plans (CMPs) which councils could develop.
‘In the watered down 2016 Act, they are called Coastal Management Programs (CMPs). It was a long drawn-out fight with the department of planning, who wanted to get their way.
‘To make the 2016 Act work, councils need a coastal State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP), and it took two years before that was put in place.
‘While Coastal Management Programs focus on whole of embayment planning, the SEPP focuses on individual DAs, for example.
‘In 2025, I am not aware of a NSW council that has an entire CMP in place. Newcastle has a partial one.
‘Under the Act, the environment minister can override councils if they haven’t completed their CMP’.
Additionally, Mr Gordon says state planning panels and local governments now decide coastal DAs, and often expert advice is missing from decision making.
‘The only solution I see is the Californian model – they have a coastal commission which administers their Act. One here could help councils develop and implement council’s CMPs’.
‘By way of example, the recent introduction of a building commissioner in NSW has cleaned up the industry and made a positive difference.
‘Is there a strategy for the coast of NSW? No, it’s the SES’, he added.
Asked whether dredging of rivers could alleviate flooding, Mr Gordon says it can, ‘though sand builds up quickly at the river’s ocean entrance’.
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