NEWS DESK
Push for dredging not seawall at Portsea Mike Hast mike@mpnews.com.au BUILDING a seawall at Portsea means the iconic beach will never return, says the man who successfully lobbied the state government to investigate massive erosion that started in 2009 and led to the loss of 400 metres of prime beach. Colin Watson, president of Nepean Ratepayers Association, said he was disappointed with the decision to replace the temporary sandbag wall with a rock seawall. “Our association has been negotiating with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning for several years. I believed its intent was to fix this problem, but the seawall will not do the job,” he told The News. “Something must be done to divert the waves hitting the beach. “I am very unhappy with the decision after encouraging the department over the past four and a half years to fund studies to initially establish the core problem of why the wave energy is occurring and then after that fund a study to find out how it can be fixed. “The decision was purely financial. You would have thought after doing the channel deepening, which ultimately added to the value of the Port of Melbourne, which the government leased for $9.7 billion, that spending $20 million or 2 per cent of the sale price wasn’t unreasonable.” He said the association would examine “what we can do to have the government reverse its decision”.
Rocks for bags: The $3 million plus temporary sandbag seawall erected in 2010 to stop further erosion of the foreshore at Portsea will be replaced by a permanent rock wall at a cost of $3 million. Picture: Keith Platt
DELWP last month announced it would begin designing a rock wall to provide “long-term protection” to the foreshore and beach. The decision to replace the sandbag wall with a rock one follows the completion of an assessment by consulting firm Advisian, a division of Worley Parsons.
Earlier this year Advisian suggested five options for the beach but said only two would be effective over the long term – so-called “configuration dredging” at a cost of more than $20 million or building a breakwater at a cost of up to $29 million. DELWP has opted for a rock wall plus bringing in new sand at a total
cost of $3 million. Configuration dredging would alter the shape of South Channel off Portsea, which scientists have blamed for the increase in wave size and frequency that destroyed the beach. The channel was altered during the government and Port of Melbourne Corporation’s Channel Deepening Project in
2008 and 2009. Reports of abnormally large waves hitting the front beach were first made in late 2008. The dredger Queen of the Netherlands started digging in The Heads in April 2008. The government and port corporation have consistently denied that dredging caused the erosion but two state government-commissioned reports – by Water Technologies and the CSIRO – revealed the removal of sand further out in Port Phillip had changed the shape and power of waves hitting Portsea beach. The CSIRO report stated a change in the local wave conditions was the likely cause of the erosion at Portsea but this could not be measured accurately due to a lack of “long wave records at Portsea beach that predate the erosion event and CDP [channel deepening project]”. The authorities said the beach was destroyed by natural causes such as storms, higher sea levels and natural erosion. Mr Watson said there had been at least six reports and/or peer reviews of reports, all but one since dredging was completed in 2009. Nepean Ratepayers Association had responded to reports when asked by the government. “Following the Advisian report, we asked for the configuration dredging as we received advice from coastal experts that this was the best way to stop swell waves pounding the beach,” he said. Advisian stated the dredging option would take three years to complete including nine months of construction.
Volunteers feel fleeced over sheep loss Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au THERE’S no sign of the heritage sheep that once graced The Briars Park, Mt Martha. They vanished – and some of the volunteers who paid for them and felt responsible for them - say they have been kept in the dark about where they were sent and whether they will be replaced. Mornington Peninsula Shire says there is no mystery: the sheep were sold more than a year ago and volunteers were offered a refund. One volunteer said he had not received a refund from Mornington
Peninsula Shire Council for the cost of the heritage sheep which he had contributed to. The volunteer – who asked not to be named but who is known to The News – said the original 21 ewes and one ram “suddenly vanished” about a year ago “without any consultation with the volunteers or advance notice that they were being removed”. “These sheep were all with lamb,” the volunteer said. “Now they should or would be with lamb once again. The heritage sheep were paid for by Briars volunteers – not the shire.” He said the group had been “denied the pleasure of seeing these lambs grow and become adult sheep”. “Visitors and especially little
children who come to The Briars Park have also been denied this pleasure. The sheep were so tame that they would come to their enclosure fence when called by name.” The volunteer said that when questioning the council as to just who was responsible for the removal of these sheep “no-one came forward as being responsible”. “Despite asking many times why they were removed, no definitive reason was ever provided. “The volunteers were told that the council would try to get them back as well as being told they had been agisted out. It is confusing as to just what did happen. “No further communication has
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been received by the volunteers, nor has there been any suggestion of refunding the purchase price. “The volunteers would like to see these sheep returned to The Briars.” Shire infrastructure services executive manager Niall McDonagh said the original 21 ewes and one ram were brought to The Briars as a trial, “the first stage of a longer-term plan to return heritage animals to the site”. “The aim … was to test the feasibility of [having] animals onsite and identify the policies, procedures and infrastructure which would be required to house animals long-term,” he said. “This stage of the trial ended as planned with the sale of the sheep in June 2016. Two breeds of heritage
chickens and three pigs remain.” Mr McDonagh said volunteers who had contributed to the cost of the sheep were advised by email, phone, or in person about the sale. Some had refused a refund, saying the money could be used for the ongoing maintenance of the farm. “A review of The Briars is currently being undertaken with the aim of developing and implementing a master plan. This will include strengthening the heritage values of the site and, most likely, will include additional heritage animals. “Which breeds will be reintroduced will be determined later in this process and through consultation with council and key stakeholders.”
2415 Point Nepean Road, Rye Beach www.ryehotel.com.au | 5985 2277 Southern Peninsula News 11 July 2017
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