Winda Woppa: Housing market strong despite calls for erosion management plan

Dramatic pictures show the shores of a small coastal town bordering the Mid-North Coast and Port Stephens almost crumbling due to erosion, but it hasn’t deterred home buyers.

Houses and the access road on Winda Woppa, on the northern side of Nelson Bay, have affected by coastal erosion. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

In a small coastal town bordering the Mid-North Coast and Port Stephens, erosion is no doubt an issue.

Not quite the Stockton Beach level, but still an ongoing hindrance.

But it seems this well know problem at Winda Woppa — the isthmus of land between Jimmy’s Beach and the Myall River at Hawks Nest — isn’t deterring future locals and investors from snapping up their perfect idyllic waterfront property.

With around 160 homes to choose from, the market is strong according to locals, some would say even better than previous years.

“Not affecting sales in the least bit apparently,” local resident and President of the Winda Woppa Association Mike Thew said.

One of the homes on The Boulevarde at Winda Woppa which has recently sold. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

“The property boom here has been as strong if not stronger than we’ve seen across the state, in Sydney in particular.”

Despite this, the issues at the picturesque haven can’t be ignored.

Winda Woppa shores are fragile, continuously affected by waves and severe storms that lash the coast.

MidCoast Council has just completed works via the sand transfer system to ensure there is an adequate “buffer”, transferring 20,000 cubic metres of sand between homes, the road and the beach.

Mr Thew admits the new work “looks good”.

“Looks like this time they have put a much more natural profile on it which hopefully will be a bit more resistant to erosion,” he said.

“A big drop becomes an access problem for people coming onto the beach.”

But he knows its not a permanent solution.

Recent sand transfer system works at Winda Woppa. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

“I don’t know if there is a long-term solution, with rising sea levels and climate change and migrating beaches,” he explained.

“The current strategy is probably the best available, one of the challenges with a permanent solution is getting the money to implement it and there’s considerable debate on what would work.”

About 12 months ago, the eastern channel of the Myall River was dredged and 100,000 cubic metres of sand was stockpiled.

Already around 40,000 cubic metres of sand has been moved to protect the local coastline.

“Got to be looking at another dredging campaign in order to replenish that sand and that takes a bit of organisation with a bunch of government departments involved,” Mr Thew commented.

“One issue, we do have a fantastic sand transfer system, but MidCoast Council still don’t have a plan in place for the operation of the pumping system on an ongoing basis.

“We’d like to see a plan in place for a continued operation.”

President of the Jimmy’s Beach Preservation Association Richard Streamer appreciates the work Council has put in to protecting the beach.

The small “buffer” zone between homes and the beach at Winda Woppa. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

Despite being recognised as an erosion hotspot by the State Government, he said waterfront homeowners are not at all concerned about their houses getting washed away in storm activity because of the work that has been done to keep it safe.

Although, Mr Streamer wants to see a more proactive solution to managing erosion and sand nourishment into the future.

“We’d like council to be doing something more preventive so that we never get to the issue that it does get washed back to the road,” Mr Streamer said.

Some of the erosion problems at Winda Woppa. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

“The main issue is not replenishing enough, the original plan for the sand transfer system was to run it a couple of times a year and there was also supposed to be a buffer zone so the sand as soon as it got back about 10 metres from the road, they would initiate operation of the sand transfer system.

“Since they’ve (Council) first commissioned the sand transfer system which was almost two years, 18 months ago, they’ve only run it once.

“It should be run at least a couple of times a year.”

He’s pushing for an updated management plan to ensure strategies are put in place to resolve any future issues.

“The management plan is well out of date, it hasn’t been updated, and we’ve been asking for the last couple of years to get it updated, but we’re still waiting,” he said.

“There is a money consideration, we don’t know how much money is being put into it and that’s probably one of the limiting factors.

“We’re working with council trying to work out what is going on.

“The beach is fine now but how long this will last will depend on storms and that may trigger some other emergency action if we get severe storms that wash it back to the road.

“We’re not going to get to the situation about 4-5 years ago the road did start to get washed away, that should not happen again.”

The Newcastle News contacted the MidCoast Council for comment, but has yet to receive a response.