Facelift for Ettalong foreshore

Gosford City Council and the Ettalong Beach Memorial Club have joined forces to ensure that the Ettalong Beach foreshore gets the facelift it deserves to compliment the impending development of the Ettalong Beach Resort complex.
In an agreement between the Memorial Club and the Council, monies will be made available for the proposed upgrading works between Picnic Parade and Beach Street.
The works will include the widening of the pedestrian promenade, construction of viewing platforms within the dune area, refencing of the dune frontage, relocation of the Picnic Parade toilet block, new seating and shelters and possible one-way traffic restrictions between Picnic Parade and Memorial Avenue.
Council has also approved the sand renourishment of the beach area with some of the required sand being reclaimed from the proposed Ettalong Beach Resort site as part of an agreement with the Memorial Club.
The sand , valued at over $400,000 will be donated by the Memorial Club at no cost to Council.
Geotechnical testing of the underlying sand material on the resort site has shown it to be compatible with the beach material and will be transported to the beach front under tight Council guidance and monitoring.
A Foreshore Masterplan is to be developed over the next three months which will detail the works proposed.
The Masterplan will be placed on exhibition for community comment before being adopted by Gosford City Council.
"This is an exciting project which will restore the beach front and return the area back to greater public use", said Mr Matthew Wales, President of the Chamber of Commerce.
"For years the area has degraded and become unsafe for families to use. This project will ensure that the beach is restored so that it can be used in much the same way as many of us remember it back in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
"Council’s CLP Committee should be congratulated for the speedy assessment of the Broken Bay Study which led to the decisions on the beach upgrade. The community will be big winners in the beach redevelopment".