Kingscliff has been in the news and on the television this week as the coastal erosion continues along the beachfront and the council and politicians search for solutions.
Around 10 metres of sand was lost from in front of the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park over the past week, forcing all of the park’s villas and cabins to be moved back out of the danger zone.
And as well as early morning clean-ups by Tweed Shire Council crews each morning after the string of king tides and visits from the media each day (including helicopter sweeps), Kingscliff has received an influx of day tourists. Sunday, when council was forced to move the bulk of the cabins, residents reported a marked influx of tourists from as far away as Murwillumbah, Byron and Brisbane – crowding on the Surf Club lawn to get a view of the action.
“There would have been two to three hundred people coming and going throughout the day,” one local, a surf club member remarked. “Spots near the fence were hard to come by as everybody watched.”
The council announced last week the construction of double sandbag walls in front of the surf club and caravan park as temporary protection. Council’s Director of Community and Natural Resources, David Oxenham, said Council had determined in late June to bring in contractors to reinforce the sandbag walls, which will cost over $100,000 to protect the park, the surf club and holiday park.
“Next week, Council will consider expending additional funds on extending the temporary wall to protect the holiday park. The holiday park provides a valuable financial stimulus to the Kingscliff community and Council.
Mr Oxenham stressed that any temporary measure would be unable withstand a major storm.
“These recent events really highlight the need for matching State or Federal Government assistance to enable us to undertake a long-term solution,” he said.
“Council has allocated $3 million to undertake a massive sand nourishment program to restore Kingscliff Beach in the long term. However, it will cost about twice this amount to effectively restore sand levels, by pumping sand from an identified source in the nearby Tweed River.”
By Monday, Federal Member for Richmond Justine Elliott had weighed in and was calling on her State counterpart NSW Member for Tweed Geoff Provest to help; and people were still pouring in to the surf club’s front yard to check out the damaged – some getting so engrossed they didn’t notice the pod of up to six whales just off shore (behind the nearest bommie to the creek mouth).
“Locals on the Tweed Coast are desperate for action from Geoff Provest to fix the Kingscliff erosion crisis,” Justine Elliott said in her release. “This is a matter of urgency. Geoff Provest needs to do his job and secure State Government funding to fix this. It is a State Government responsibility.
“The Caravan Park and our local Surf Lifesaving Club are at risk and we need action now.”
At its meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the Tweed Coast Holiday Parks Reserve Trust resolved to work with Tweed Shire Council and a private contractor to undertake a 70-metre extension of the beach erosion emergency works already underway in front of the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park.
Both Council and a private contractor will be providing resources to this project, which has an estimated cost of approximately $255,000.
These works are in addition to the previously approved $140,000 in emergency works that are currently taking place in front of the Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park and south of the Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club.
Council and the Trust’s long-term strategy is to nourish Kingscliff Beach with 300,000 cubic metres of sand extracted from the Tweed River downstream of Barneys Point Bridge. Re-nourishment would continue as required in the long-term, in accordance with Council’s exhibited and adopted Tweed Coastline Management Plan. To this end, Council has allocated $3 million in loan funds as its contribution.
The man in the hot seat now – NSW Member for Tweed Geoff Provest said he had spoken to the Council last week and was told they needed an additional $3 million to carry out the dredging from the river.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Provest said he had spoken to the Minister and was hoping to have an answer back in the “next few days”.
Story: Tania Phillips, Editor and Tweed Coast resident
