Port Stephens Council has unanimously endorsed the draft Coastal Management Program taking Port Stephens a step closer to further protecting its greatest coastal assets.
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Mayor Ryan Palmer said the endorsement was a major milestone to reach.
"This endorsement marks a significant step forward for Port Stephens, showing council's commitment to mitigate the impacts of coastal threats affecting our coastal zones," Cr Palmer said.
"The next step is to submit the endorsed program to the state minister for the environment for certification, and once certified we can start implementation later in the year.
"Our work on the Coastal Management Program started in 2019. We've worked through four stages to determine the coastal areas we needed to consider, the types of threats, and management options available to protect and enhance the Port Stephens coastline."
The draft Port Stephens Coastal Management Program outlines 67 management actions, 61 to be delivered by council. The management actions aim to mitigate the impacts of coastal inundation, tidal inundation, coastal erosion and dune transgression over the next 10 years. The actions of the 10 year plan will have a total cost of over $16 million.
"With council's endorsement, we're confirming our commitment of over $7 million funding towards the delivery of the actions over the next 10 years," Cr Palmer said.
"Once the plan is certified by the minister we'll be actively seeking funding from the state government's coastal and estuary grants program to complete all of the actions in the program
"We look forward working with key partners to build environmental resilience across Port Stephens coastlines ensuring we can adapt to our changing environment."
