With a huge effort from Andrew Staniland of MidCoast Council, sand-scraping on Old Bar beach has begun.

The works will last for approximately 10 days, weather permitting, and be focused on the area just south of the surf club (in line with Kolang Street) to the northern point of the Old Bar Caravan Park.

In a letter to residents, Mr. Staniland advises that these are trial works, mirroring successful sand scraping works that have been undertaken within NSW. The result of the trial will be used when designing future management solutions for the long term coastal planning of the Old Bar area.

It is the case on some NSW beaches that sand scraping is a regular maintenance carried out perhaps every second or third year and similar for our beach would be great until we get the Old Bar Manning Point Coastal Management Plan (CMP) gazetted.

MidCoast Council has achieved funding for a Racecourse Creek Study to find a satisfactory solution to the storm water being poured into Racecourse Creek. This will form part of the CMP, under the 2016 Coastal Management Act.

While pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the works, sections of the beach and beach access points will be closed during the operation of machinery. 

Council asks all beach visitors to be aware of the works occurring and follow the directions of staff and signage on site.

The trial sand scraping works will physically shift sand from the intertidal zone (between high and low tide) and place it against the current erosion scar in the designated work zone.

MidCoast Council has received all relevant permits and licences to undertake these works.

These works are a trial. There is no certainty that they will be replicated. The trial works are designed to create a sand buffer that is designed to be eroded by the ocean and will act as a short term buying-time management solution. The works are planned so that the buffer is eroded instead of the ocean eroding the existing coast.

The sand scraping works have been jointly funded from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and MidCoast Council.

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