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Coastal management documents

Code of Practice under the Coastal Protection Act 1979

This document describes the minimum requirements to be met to satisfy specific sections of the Coastal Protection Act 1979. The Code of Practice (110223CodeofPracCoastProtAct1979.pdf, 230kb) particularly relates to the placement, maintenance and removal of emergency coastal protection works. This Code supersedes the 'Minister's Requirements under the Coastal Protection Act 1979' published in December 2010. The Code refers to the document 'Coastal Dune Management: A manual of coastal dune management and rehabilitation techniques', which is available from the Department of Planning’s website.

A Guide to the Statutory Requirements for Emergency Coastal Protection Works

This Guide to Statutory Requirements (101017guidestatreqs.pdf, 300kb) will assist beachfront landowners and people acting on their behalf to understand the requirements for placing emergency coastal protection works under the Coastal Protection Act and the associated Code of Practice.

Guidelines for preparing coastal zone management plans

These statutory Minister's guidelines specify the requirements for councils preparing coastal zone management plans under the Coastal Protection Act. This is a framework document which also includes key strategic considerations for preparing these plans. It also provides guidance on preparing coastal erosion emergency action subplans. These guidelines replace the 1990 Coastline Management Manual and the 1992 draft Estuary Management manual. The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment notified his adoption of these guidelines for the purposes of the Coastal Protection Act 1979 in the Government Gazette on 31 December 2010. The guidelines will be supported by a series of coastal management guide notes, which will provide further detailed information to support preparation of coastal zone management plans.

Coastal Protection Service Charge Guidelines

These statutory Minister's guidelines describe how a council should calculate the coastal protection service charge to be levied on land under the Local Government Act. It describes how councils should calculate the reasonable costs of providing a coastal protection service and how these costs should be apportioned between the various parcels of land subject to the charge. The Minister for Climate Change and the Environment published a notice in the Government Gazette on 31 December 2010 that he had issued these guidelines for the purposes of the Local Government Act.

Forthcoming documents

A guide for authorised officers under the Coastal Protection Act

The document will provide guidance to council and State Government employees who have been appointed as authorised officers under the Coastal Protection Act. It will include issuing orders, collecting evidence and issuing certificates for emergency coastal protection works.This document will be published in February 2011.

Guidelines for assessing the impacts of seawalls

The guidelines will describe the recommended analysis techniques for assessing the impacts of seawalls on coastal processes and the resulting impacts on land adjacent to the seawall. It will also describe potential ecosystem impacts from seawalls. It will not include guidance on the structural design of a seawall. These guidelines will support proposed amendments to the Infrastructure SEPP permitting landowners to apply to construct seawalls.

Consultation draft guidelines (101043draftgdlnsseawalls.pdf, 120kb) are available. These draft guidelines were based on draft reports prepared by the Water Research Laboratory of the University of NSW (waterresearchlabreport.pdf, 5.42MB) and Cardno Ecology Lab (cardoecologylabreport.pdf, 1.16MB) – the views expressed in these reports are those of the consultants and do not necessarily represent the views of DECCW.