Surfers Paradise surf lifesaving club stalwart Billy James warns Gold Coast City Council on beach erosion
A VETERAN Surfers Paradise businessman and surf lifesaving stalwart is calling on the Gold Coast City Council to wake up to feared beach erosion.
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A VETERAN Surfers Paradise businessman and surf lifesaving stalwart is calling on the Gold Coast City Council to wake up to beach erosion.
Billy James, a founder of the Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club, wants the council to adopt a 50-year funding plan to protect the coastline and the tourism economy.
Gold Coast beaches attract 12 million tourists a year.
“We need to get serious about protecting the tourism and leisure industry,” Mr James said.
“If you take the beaches away, what have you got?
“It is not just supporting one of our main industries it is our number one industry.”
Mr James has written to council chief executive Dale Dickson to say he is concerned the council’s draft 10-year Gold Coast Ocean Beaches Strategy contains no definitive funding by either the council or the Queensland State Government.
“Long-term planning and funding is vital for beach protection to account for climate variability,” Mr James said in his letter.
“Without appropriate work programs, the images of the beaches in the document will be banished – along with the Gold Coast economy.
“The Gold Coast community, including the tourist and leisure industry, relies on the management of the beaches for survival.”
Speaking to the Bulletin, he said the council was not treating the issue “seriously enough” and had its “head in the sand”.
“They need to implement a fully integrated plan for the whole of the Coast – not just Palm Beach.”
A $20-million protective reef has been proposed for Palm Beach which coastal researchers have urged must go ahead.
Earlier this month, Gold Coast coastal management researcher Naomi Edwards warned horror scenes at Collaroy, in Sydney’s north, where beachside homes and backyards are on the brink of collapsing into the sea, could be repeated here.
Mr James called for the Gold Coast Seawall to be extended, with increased sand-pumping along the length of the Coast.
“It wouldn’t take much to bust through the road at Narrow Neck if they had a decent surge,’’ he said.
“That would cut one of the main roads to Main Beach.”
The Bulletin’s questions to council about whether it needed more of an approach or if it had plans to combat erosion were not answered.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate responded with a brief statement: “Funding details will be outlined when the 2016-17 budget is handed down this Friday.
“The budget includes a commitment towards the Palm Beach Shoreline Protection project,” Cr Tate said.