Long-term coastal erosion measures for Dendy Street Beach
Council is committed to protecting the public beach, heritage registered bathing boxes, dunes, aboriginal cultural heritage and remnant native vegetation.
At its June 2024 meeting, Council provided an update on its plan for managing the impacts of erosion and climate change at Dendy Street Beach.
Over the last several years there has been noticeable erosion impacting the public beach and bathing boxes. As a short-term solution a beach renourishment project was implemented in 2021 -2022.
Following this, a 12-month review concluded that the sandbags installed on Dendy Street Beach are invisible from the beach surface and the beach is healthy one year after the beach renourishment.
While the beach is in a healthy stable state at present, Council will explore long term options to protect the iconic Dendy Street Beach in Brighton from coastal erosion in response to the threat of sea level rise from the climate emergency.
Initial investigations by expert coastal engineers identified possible solutions to address coastal erosion on the beach. These include single or multiple groynes or offshore breakwaters.
Council has also begun the process of drafting a Coastal and Marine Management Plan (CMMP). The CMMP will be a ten-year plan that guides appropriate and effective management of Bayside’s marine and coastal areas. CMMPs are being developed under the Marine and Coastal Act 2018 and Marine and Coastal Policy 2020. CMMPs are intended to be the primary management tool to guide coastal management in Victoria.
The long-term concepts are still in early stages of investigation and will require further development and costings before the concepts can progress. Council will continue to engage with the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action to develop these long-term solutions.
For now, Council is continuing to monitor the condition of Dendy Street Beach and will undertake beach renourishment along Dendy Street Beach once every 3 to 4 years, subject to Council budget.
In the case of an emergency such as significant storm event, the allocated funding for that 3 to 4 year period could be utilised to undertake immediate works.
