‘The erosion problem is the worst I’ve ever seen, it’s only going to get worse’: The Stockton Beach erosion saga takes toll
Severe erosion has caused absolute havoc on the Stockton community, as infrastructure comes under threat and organisations are questioning their existence.
Newcastle
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It’s been described as catastrophic. A crisis not going away and needing urgent attention.
The formidable erosion problem at Stockton Beach has of recent, been in the spotlight, after big swells and forceful weather conditions battered the coastline, leaving a crumbled beach left behind.
Severe erosion has wrecked havoc on the community as infrastructure is under threat and organisations are questioning their existence.
The Stockton Surf Life Saving Club is 112 years old and while once there was a plethora of sand to run activities, carnivals and keep a watchful eye on those who use the beach, that’s under doubt.
Today (Saturday) is the raising of the flags and the start of the surf season, but without a beach, with access closed by Newcastle City Council last week, there’s doubt they can operate at all.
“There is no way we can get down onto the beach, there is one access point used for emergencies but it has a locked gate and we’re yet to get a key to that,” Stockton SLS member Willow Forsyth said.
“If we were required to go out, we couldn’t launch equipment to assist.”
At the end of October the nippers season starts, surf education and awareness for young locals, but that too is under threat.
“Every year we want kids to learn to be safe and they need to do that by practising within a beach environment,” she said.
“Some of the kids have been nippers since under 5s, so they need to make the horrendous choice, split up from their mates and they can’t train here, and competition season is coming up.
“This break will have a generational impact on our club.”
Neighbouring cafe, Lexie’s on the Beach is also dangerously close to waters edge, and come summer there’s question as to what will happen to trade if access to the beach remains closed.
“Business wise we don’t have beach goers because there isn’t a beach and there’s no access to even get to it safely,” cafe owner Vinnie Sovechles said.
“The erosion problem is the worst I’ve ever seen and it’s only going to get worse.
“Summer we’ll know how it goes on how business will fare, luckily due to all the media we’ve had a lot of people come down here and check out the lack of beach, but I dare say it will affect us.
“Without the surf life saving carnivals and not having all the kids coming to the cafe, and getting their fish and chips and ice-creams, that will hurt.”
Mr Sovechles said the situation is past the point of angry, it’s genuinely sad to see nothing has been done for so long and that the beach is at the point of crisis.
“We just need more sand, we need the NSW government to put back sand here and to step in and do something about it,” he added.
“It’s only going to get worse and cost more the longer they wait.”
The erosion crisis has already claimed a victim in Stockton’s only child care centre which was forced to close due safety concerns, putting staff out of jobs and parents left in limbo.
Fortunately Mission Australia Early Learning have been working with those impacted.
Ben Williams, Mission Australia General Manager Early Learning said, “The Mission Australia Early Learning Enrolments Team have been assisting families to connect to alternative care options as well as offer support.
“We offered short-term arrangements at our other local services, and free transport from Stockton to our Beresford service for children aged 12 months and over. These services have now ceased as families have advised they no longer require these supports.”
Local residents who have lived in Stockton most of their lives are truly worried about the future of Stockton and it’s iconic beach and what will be left if things continue the way they do.
“It’s scary and I’m worried,” Barbara Whitcher from Stockton Community Liaison Group said.
“I was about three when I moved into Hereford street here in Stockton and this beach was our playground and we used to walk so far out and have such wonderful waves.
“It’s really been a recreational area for a long time and to see it now, with the cliff all the way along is so disturbing and worrying.”
THE SOLUTION
Local experts are claiming the cause of erosion at Stockton is not from natural events or even sea level rise, it’s a man-made problem, artificially manufactured by infrastructure.
Before Newcastle Harbour construction, sand moved south to north along the coastline and a large sandbar existed off Stockton which saved it from the wrath of erosion which is decimating it today.
After construction of long breakwaters and excavation of a deep channel, University of Newcastle Professor and locally based coastal erosion expert Ron Boyd said it’s virtually impossible for new sand to enter the south Stockton compartment.
“People need to understand it is directly linked to the creation of the harbour and dredging, and extension of the break waters, and the desire to make money from that,” he said.
“If you create an environmental harbour you should take responsibility and create some remediation. Sandbagging only protects assets and drainage works.
“Up until about a month ago it was pretty quiet, not a lot
of waves and activity, and people became a little bit complacent, but in a course of a month, three storms including one which was 11 metre wave height, has focused the recent attention and it now looks fairly unstable.
“If there’s any more serious swells and we get some large cyclones over the summer then the situation will get worse.”
Ms Forsyth added, she’s adamant sand replenishment is the only way to fix the problem in the short term, “The sand bank is gone and it’s not coming back until we find a way to collect the sand off Nobby’s and move it.
“You need a sand bank otherwise all the energy from the waves will be arriving at the beach front so that increased energy, increases massive erosion from the sea wall.
“When you get a very big swell, like the 2007 Pasha Bulka storm, that energy used to be lost through the sand bank but now it will arrive and we’re exposed at the beach front, and a storm surge and flooding is possible.”
For years locals have been concerned about the NSW government’s lack of interest on the matter.
Last year there was debate in parliament after more than 10 thousand signatures were delivered, but it’s taken until now, with severe changes in Stockton’s coastline after recent weather events and a massive community gathering last weekend, to again gain some exposure on the issue.
The state member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp and NSW Labor leader and former Hunter resident Jodi McKay again highlighted the ‘catastrophe’ in a visit to the area during the week.
They urged the NSW premier to take the issue seriously, vowing to get behind community efforts to fix the beach and support the potential of class action.
“It is a catastrophe what is happening here to this community,” Ms McKay said on Wednesday.
“I know this beach, I’ve been to this beach many times, I know this community well and when I arrived, I was shocked to see what has happened here over a short period of time.
“We want the premier to appoint a state recovery co-ordinator, that position is the same position that was in place for the issue that occurred in Collaroy some years ago.
“If this was Manly or Bondi, this would not be the response we’re getting from the premier. We believe this requires urgent government intervention.
“We know the coastal management plan is not scheduled to come in until 2021, that is simply not acceptable, we want it at the end of this year.”
“It could come from further up north, a lot is from Nobby’s.”
Mr Crakanthorp added, “It really has reached crisis point.
“On Saturday the surf club starts patrol but there is really no beach to patrol.
“It’s devastating for the community and they’re absolutely feeling this many ways. The community is getting washed away and the government has got its head buried in the sand on this one.”
In a statement to The Newcastle News last month, a Department of Planning, Industry and Environment spokesperson said in a statement it’s working with Newcastle Council to prepare a long term Coastal Management Program which will investigate all feasible sources of sand, for improving the degraded beach.
It stated, sand extraction for beach replenishment is legal in NSW however, investigation is needed on how much sand would be required to address community concerns.
Meanwhile the erosion saga has also got Newcastle’s Independent councillors thinking, who say council can afford to start rectification works immediately, with the money to come from a hefty rate rise.
“The Council’s surplus could be put to good use in fixing the beach now,” Councillor John Church said.
“I was surprised to read in the media that there was an application process for state government funding which would be kept open past the closing date, in order for an application to come from Newcastle City Council.
“I am shocked that we have not done our job and submitted a compliant application before now. We need to start rectification works to help the people of Stockton.”