Erosion threatens the beachfront lifestyle of Perth and towns up and down the WA coast

Updated

The beach forms the foundation of life in Western Australia, but the oceanfront dream is under threat in cities and towns along the coast.

The city of Perth lies stretched out along 160 kilometres of almost uninterrupted sandy beaches to the north and south, as families have embraced outlying suburbs in search of their beachfront dream home.

But what the ocean delivers, the ocean can also take away.

Storms and tides are powering a wave of erosion that is washing away the seaside dream for many in Perth and cities and towns up and down the coast.

Coastal councils in WA's South West undertook research in 2012 that found about $1.2 billion worth of assets were at risk from erosion between Rockingham and Dunsborough.

The report found about $1.1 billion of these assets could be saved from future erosion, but this would come at a cost of about $120 million.

Ground zero in Perth's erosion fight

The situation at Port Beach, just north of the port of Fremantle, is a glimpse of what the future could hold for the rest of Perth's pristine coastline — arguably the city's biggest tourism drawcard.

Every day before sunrise, even in the midst of winter, the Port Beach Polar Bears brave the chill waters of North Fremantle for a swim.

But lately the steely swimmers have had to migrate to nearby Leighton Beach because severe erosion has forced the closure of their treasured Port Beach.

Polar Bear Eric Wilson, 86, has spent his entire life swimming at Port Beach and described its current state as "mortifying".

"[I feel] regret and … absolute disgust that it's allowed to get to this stage and that people have had this wonderful amenity that's been taken away from them," he said.

Stormy, rough seas have swallowed sand dunes at the man-made beach, exposing hazardous debris from the area's industrial history.

In Perth's northern suburbs, the popular Mettams Pool swimming spot faces a similar fate.

Sand dunes are crumbling and steps are in danger of collapsing as the coastline edges back towards West Coast Drive.

"The sea is definitely changing, it's encroaching on the land," said Marcia Farris, who has lived in the area for 40 years.

She is part of the volunteer group Coastcare, which is replanting the sand dunes to fortify them and keep them safe.

"They're definitely undermined and that's how they stay," she said.

Beach home dream becomes a nightmare

For some in Perth and in regional towns such as Geraldton, Lancelin and Seabird that scatter the WA coastline to the north of the city, it's not just their beaches but their homes that are in the advancing ocean's sights.

The effects of erosion were brought home to residents in the northern Geraldton suburb of Drummond Cove when their beachside road broke up in front of them and crumbled into the ocean.

"When the road started to go into [the sea] there was bitumen and concrete and all sorts of stuff in the beach," business owner and father of two Ray Proudlove remembered.

The community hall narrowly avoided the same fate.

Mr Proudlove had big plans for an oceanfront family home when he bought a block of land at Drummond Cove eight years ago.

But having seen what happened to the road, he said he was nervous about building if the local council was not prepared to protect the beach with groynes like those built closer to the centre of Geraldton.

"Personally, I cannot justify spending any money on investing here because of the fact that we cannot be told at the moment whether the investment is going to be protected or not, and with a young family that is a bit distressing," he said.

Fears over a 'managed retreat' from the sea

The cost and effort of preserving the coastline has led several authorities to consider exploring a so-called "managed retreat" approach — planning to move settlements and infrastructure further inland and away from the advancing waves.

The tiny fishing town of Seabird, 100 kilometres north of Perth, is one of a number of towns on the WA coast which began life as little more than a few beach shacks belonging to fishermen and holidaymakers.

Over time those shacks were replaced with houses and the campsites became an established town.

But it remained on the beachfront in a location which would never be approved under modern planning regulations, which allow for cyclical erosion and growth of coastlines.

Now residents up and down the coast fear the same authorities that allowed them to settle in coastal locations and collect their rates may abandon them in their time of need.

Geraldton lecturer and mother Megan Thompson said residents deserved some protection.

"It is our future home that was the one we were going to keep for the rest of our lives and bring up our children," she said.

"I am concerned if they say 'managed retreat' and just keep letting it go, what does that mean for us and our family … and whether we can afford anywhere else?"

Even for those whose homes are not in the firing line, the managed retreat strategy has little appeal.

At Perth's Port Beach, the City of Fremantle has erected a temporary rock wall to defend buildings on the brink of collapse.

But it is also exploring a managed retreat that would entail pushing roads and buildings back, an approach that critics including Polar Bear swimmer Mr Wilson have little time for.

"A managed retreat, in all the reading I've done, means that you gradually allow the storms to win," he said.

"I'm not going to be around long enough to see the ultimate repairs done, but I'd just like to see it back to a reusable state.

"I'd like to see it back to a state where they can bring swimming classes back here with kids, and people can come down without the fear of cutting their feet or running into an old toilet pedestal that's stuck out there in the water."

When there's nowhere to retreat to

In the coastal town of Lancelin, 120 kilometres north of Perth, engineers predict a number of houses and other infrastructure will be highly vulnerable to erosion by 2030 and by 2110 the beach is expected to lie 100–200 metres further inland.

Similar issues face 33 residential properties in the south part of Ledge Point which are rated as highly vulnerable to erosion at present and are expected to be very highly vulnerable by 2030.

Managed retreat is one of the options coastal engineers have recommended for those properties, but compensating homeowners lies far beyond the Shire of Gingin's budget and no one else has put their hand up to pay.

Gingin Shire President Sam Collard said he could not see how retreat would be an option for the low-lying town.

"The problem there in Lancelin is if it gets over those frontal dunes it's in the town, and who knows where it will stop — probably at the desert," he said.

"Where do we retreat to, back out to Indian Ocean Drive?"

"People have invested their whole life savings into the town, in businesses and houses, in retirement, and it's got to be respected."

A bad look for tourism

In Lancelin, the same wind and waves which bring thousands of windsurfers and kite surfers to town each summer are eating away at the coast, most visibly at Grace Darling Park in the south end of town.

The grassed park has halved in size over about two years. Part of the carpark has been washed away, roads have been closed and the shire had to remove shelters and decommission toilets to prevent septic tanks being washed into the ocean.

The Lancelin Volunteer Marine Rescue Building, based at the park, once sat 15 metres back from the beach but now the sand is just a few metres away.

On a few occasions the Gingin Shire has dumped sand in front of the park, but it cost tens of thousands of dollars and was soon washed away.

It is yet to establish how it would fund even the most temporary proposed solution, involving geo-sandbags, at a cost of $650,000.

The council asked the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES), which occupies the building, to help foot the bill, but Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan said the department was merely a tenant and not responsible for the council-owned building.

Ian Young, who has been kite surfing in Lancelin for 30 years, refuses to give up on Grace Darling Park, saying retreat would set a dangerous precedent.

"People come from all over the world obviously to use those facilities and enjoy the great kite surfing and windsurfing conditions we have here," he said.

"Once you take a backwards step, when do you stop stepping backwards — are you prepared to have the whole town disappear?"

Locals have similar fears at Sunset Beach, north of Geraldton, a holiday spot that is classed as at "extreme" risk of erosion by 2030.

Sunset Beach resident Peter Teale said during a recent stand-up paddle board event, competitors were blocked from reaching the beach by a fence and a warning sign about erosion.

"It is not a good look for tourism at all," Mr Teale said.

A temporary solution

In 2016 the town of Seabird came close to disaster as coastal erosion left 15 homes perched on the edge of a sandy cliff.

The ocean swallowed a boat ramp and most of Turner Street before reaching the point where home owners watched their back fences fall into the water below.

The Shire of Gingin, with only 5,000 ratepayers, exhausted its financial capability to protect the town, forcing the then Liberal-National state government to step in.

It provided the shire with a $2 million grant from the Royalties for Regions fund, which was used to build a seawall.

While vehicle access was lost to some homes, the seawall, which has a 20-year lifespan, has held.

The town is yet to lose any houses to erosion since its construction, but the properties are still considered highly vulnerable.

Erosion bill leaves councils high and dry

Any conversation about fighting erosion inevitably comes back to a question of cost.

Residents and local councils in WA's high erosion risk areas agreed measures could be taken to protect valuable assets, including homes, but the question was who would pay for that infrastructure.

"The advice from the State Government at this stage is that this is a city problem and it would be our responsibility to manage coastal erosion issues moving forward," City of Greater Geraldton infrastructure director Chris Lee said.

"At this time there is no further funding available."

Mr Collard said the Shire of Gingin continued to lobby State and Federal governments to help fund more permanent solutions to erosion. The shire was also considering its ability to take out loans, but he said there was no way it could afford to tackle the issue on its own.

"Effectively we've got 13 towns with 5,000 ratepayers, there's no way the Gingin Shire can finance it," he said.

"We'll need outside funding, absolutely. We can get it started, but we need a promise of some backup.

"As I argue with people all the time, Lancelin and the caravan park doesn't just belong to the people of Lancelin and the ratepayers of Gingin Shire, it belongs to the people of Western Australia and beyond that the people of Australia, so why can't we all contribute?"

South of Perth, the City of Rockingham is also grappling with erosion along its 37-kilometre coastline.

Mayor Barry Sammels stressed that the full impact of erosion would not be felt in his area for several decades, but the city had already spent millions of dollars trying to preserve its beaches.

An area along the Rockingham Esplanade at Palm Beach, where a park and road separate the houses and the beach, has been identified as one of the most vulnerable spots in the area.

Mr Sammels is also the chair of the Australian Coastal Councils Association, which is calling on all levels of government to help with the cost of tackling erosion.

He said the beaches were an asset for all West Australians, so it was only fair that everyone help fund the fight.

"It needs to be a collaborative approach, it's not just up to local government. Everybody comes and enjoys the coast, you don't need to live on the coast to enjoy it," he said.

"We're not asking [State and Federal governments] to fund everything, we want to work with them.

"It's a huge job for coastal councils around Australia and we need help."

Topics: erosion, weather, urban-development-and-planning, environment, perth-6000, drummond-cove-6532, ledge-point-6043, lancelin-6044, seabird-6042, rockingham-6168, geraldton-6530, wa

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