Whitehill Road coastal reserve facelift begins

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn (left) and Drummond Cove Progress Association President Gavin Hirschhausen at fence around the Whitehill Road Coastal reserve which will be replaced with bollards and rails.

The Whitehill Road coastal reserve north of the John Batten Community Hall in Drummond Cove will undergo a facelift in the coming weeks as fences around the site are replaced with bollards and rails.

Following the coastal erosion of Whitehill Road in 2016, fences were erected around the reserve to ensure community safety whilst a medium term adaptation measure to mitigate on-going erosion could be identified and implemented.

City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said now that coastal works were completed the City is able to respond to requests from the community to improve the reserve.

“Late last year two, 40m long Geotextile Sand Container (GSC) groynes, which were consistent with community values identified via the City’s Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Planning (CHRMAP) process, were constructed to help retain sand at the foreshore and reduce reliance on temporary sand nourishment,” he said.

“Although it is still very early days in the project, we are already seeing some initial success regarding the effectiveness of the groynes.

“This means we can now focus on requests from the community to make improvements to the coastal reserve to ensure the best outcomes for local residents are achieved.”

Drummond Cove Progress Association President Gavin Hirschhausen said the community was keen to see the project progress.

“The GSCs groynes are a good interim outcome and once we’ve observed a full swing of the year’s seasons, the next steps in the project will be more telling,” he said.

“In the meantime, enhancing the area is really important as it will enable the community to access the coastal reserve for recreational purposes.

“We will continue to work with the City to make further improvements to the Foreshore space which will increase community use of the area.”

In November 2018, and in accordance with Western Australia's Planning Policy No. 2.6 – State Coastal Planning Policy (SPP2.6), Council adopted the Geraldton CHRMAP Report.  The process of adapting to coastal erosion and inundation is currently in Stage 3, which involves the development of a local coastal planning policy.