It is not an official measure, but the keen observation of Elaine Pearce who is the chairperson of the Old Bar Beach Sand Replenishment Group.

Ms Pearce walked the southern end of Old Bar Beach yesterday morning to see the damage inflicted on the coastline by the forecast king tides and weather caused by an east coast low pressure system.

The new erosion just adds to the number of missing metres of foreshore, according to Ms Pearce, from around 61 metres of frontage when the Meridian opened to about 41 metres.

“The Meridian put a protection blanket up but after the storm it was down. The weather was just terrible,” Ms Pearce said.

Ms Pearce speaks passionately about the issue of worsening erosion at Old Bar and suggests that is entirely possible that the missing one metre of sand foreshore could still be there if Greater Taree City Council and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage had worked more effectively on the Coastal Zone Management Plan.

“The plan has been bouncing between them for more than 14 months and in the meantime, the erosion continues and last night we lost another metre of foreshore,” Ms Pearce said.

“Hopefully they will have the draft zone plan on public display by the end of this month.”