Sunshine Coast Council endorses erosion plan with $50m budget hole

A Queensland council has given a beach erosion management plan with a $50m deficit the green light, focusing on reacting to triggers rather than “wasted” maintenance. TAKE THE POLL.

Beach erosion at Sunshine Beach. Picture Lachie Millard

The Sunshine Coast Council has endorsed a management plan to deal with beach erosion, focusing on reacting to certain triggers rather than “wasted” maintenance.

The proposal for the Shoreline Erosion Management Plan was presented at the Sunshine Coast Council ordinary meeting on Wednesday, May 21.

According to the council’s report each proposed action plan to deal with future shoreline erosion would result in a $50m deficit in the allocated budget.

The actions included in the 10-year plan would be triggered by certain events and data collected for Sunshine Coast beaches.

Coastal co-ordinator, Brad Wilson, told the council endorsing the plan would not lock in any recommendations in the report.

View to of erosion along Maroochydore beach as Cyclone Alfred hovered off the Queensland coast. Picture Lachie Millard

Councillor Maria Suarez said the unpredictable nature of weather events meant creating an effective management plan was difficult.

“It is really hard because you can’t crystal ball what is going to happen, when a cyclone is going to hit, when a storm event is going to hit,” Ms Suarez said.

Ms Suarez said the new plan would look for triggers rather than keeping schedules as the previous 10-year plan had done.

“What is new in the plan is that it has responded to lessons learned from the old plan, in previous plans we had set time frames, you have to do beach renourishment on an annual date or a six-monthly date,” Ms Suarez said.

“But if coastal erosion hadn’t happened it was wasted time, effort and resources so it wasn’t really responsive to what was happening.”

Ms Suarez said the initiatives proposed would not be able to be solely funded by the council, and “nor should they be”.

Councillor Taylor Bunnag said residents should remember the council was just “one stakeholder” in the delivery of effective shoreline management, which also needed support from the state government.

The council voted unanimously to endorse the recommendation.

Councillor Winston Johnston did not attend at the ordinary meeting.

The implementation of the new plan coincides with the state government’s review into the Bribie Island breakthrough, which locals fear could have disastrous effects on areas of Caloundra.

A controversial plan to rebuild a seawall at Mooloolaba recently entered the second stage of the $42.9m project, with a promise to have no “net loss” on beach space as the council revealed a reworked design.

The council is also set to begin work on the Moffat Beach seawall, which was damaged by severe weather in 2022.

The work to the rebuild the wall is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast Council endorses erosion plan with $50m budget hole