A high-powered meeting has been held in Moruya to discuss the plight of Surfside residents whose homes are at risk of being destroyed by tidal inundation.
For years now property owners have been calling on all levels of government for help to stop the continual erosion of the waterfront backyards.
We can reveal officials from the Premier’s Department called the meeting yesterday after lobbying by local MP Michael Holland in a bid to start addressing the issue.
The 14 people who attended included representatives from the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Department of Climate Change Energy the Environment and Water, the NSW Reconstruction Authority, Transport for NSW, Maritime Infrastructure, SES and Eurobodalla Shire Council as well as Dr Holland.
The meeting was told Eurobodalla Shire Council has moved to gain permission from the State Government to undertake beach scraping at Surfside to provide better protection for the homes.
“The council has applied for and will get approval for beach scraping along 250 to 300 metres of the beach at Surfside North,” Dr Holland said.
“This will scrape about 2000 cubic metres of sand which will add add resilience to the new dune,” he said.
“The next step is to look where funding could be available for maritime engineering, coastal engineering to look at what design could suit Surfside Beach because all beaches are different and what the cost would be.”
The State Government has promised to engage with homeowners before making any decisions.
“The final decision was that agencies that were there, the council and myself will come back to discuss further options and will include the Surfside residents at that time.”
