Almost 3000 signatures received to save Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club that is at risk of being ‘washed away’ as coastal erosion grows worse
A community petition to save a Bass Coast life saving club that is under threat of being “swept away” by the ocean received more than 2500 signatures in just days.
Bass Coast News
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A community petition to save a Bass Coast life saving club that is under threat of being “swept away” by shifting sand due to erosion has received more than 2500 signatures within a few days, triggering a debate in state parliament.
It comes after the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club called for a permanent engineering solution from the state government after recent storm surges further damaged the beach and sand dunes.
Club president Glenn Arnold said the club, which was built on a cement slab, would eventually collapse as the water was becoming “far too close” for the building to have a solid foundation.
In a recent storm surge, waves were just 10m away from the front of the building,
And unsafe paths, closed due the erosion, meant it was difficult for lifeguards to get onto the beach to perform their duties.
“The access points are either closed or damaged — if there is a significant issue that we need to go and deal with, we can’t get to it easily,” Mr Arnold said.
“This problem is affecting a lot of people — there’s thousands and thousands of people that come to the beach which clearly has an affect on tourism — but also the safety of those people.”
He said the club had more than 1000 members, many of whom put in more than 400 hours of training to become lifeguards.
“There’s a long list of items that are affected by this — but from us as an emergency service provider we can’t get to the beach right now and that has significant consequences,” Mr Arnold said.
Geotextile sandbags were placed on the Inverloch Surf Beach behind the club in 2020 to protect the building but “dramatic weather events” caused damage to the temporary fix.
“They come and slam us for a couple of weeks and then go away and it looks all rosy again — but each year we get another significant weather event like we’ve just had, which causes all this damage,” he said.
“What we’re not doing in the in between times is repairing it.”
On Wednesday September 4, an excavator dug up sand from other parts of the beach to pile onto the erosion-affected parts near the club.
But Mr Arnold said as soon as the tide came in, that sand would be washed away again.
He said the sandbags had done their job, but the club needed rock walls as a more “long term solution”.
Inverloch Tourism Association committee member Brian Robinson said the erosion would also see an economic impact on the town.
“The surf beach is a major tourist attraction for Inverloch — there’s a great emotional connection with the beach to the community,” Mr Robinson said.
“The beach itself has been touted into the Cape to Coast Resilience Report as being a great financial value to the community.
“So we have both a huge economical and emotional impact of loss of the beaches.”
Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Melina Bath sponsored the petition launched by the club, calling on the government to immediately implement engineering solutions.
Ms Bath said it was important to “create action” and save not only the clubhouse but the entire beach system that was “under threat of being washed away”.
“The Inverloch community is justifiably frustrated by the inaction that’s led to significant parts of the main beach continuing to erode,” she said.
“The Surf Lifesaving Club is at imminent risk — following this week’s storm and pounding surf which came within 10m of the clubhouse and shifted and compromised fortifying sandbags — yet the government’s grand plan is to do nothing until 2040 then retreat.
“The community is at its wits end, having waited four long years for a Cape to Cape Resilience Project draft plan which fails to represent their values or drive a solution.”
Ms Bath said in the past ten years, more than 70m of beachfront had been lost to erosion.
The state government has been contacted for comment.
The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.
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