TRUST IS ERODING

The devastation along the northern end of Holloways Beach foreshore since the construction of the rock groynes is appalling. We walk either Yorkeys or Holloways foreshore daily and we were amazed that the council instigated this ill-conceived attempt to preserve the beach at the southern end of Holloways to the complete detriment of the northern stretch.

Each time we visit this beach, I’ve been photographing the progression and rate of erosion; this past week has been dreadful, with many fringing she-oaks and palms toppling into the ocean, and with increasing numbers of beautiful shade-giving beach almonds either severely threatened or leaning with their roots exposed. We could not walk for any appreciable distance yesterday at the 2.8m tide, so littered was the foreshore. Also, of course, with its sand being depleted so rapidly, the beach is getting hard to negotiate at reasonable tide levels and walks now seem to involve wading through the water.

Surely the engineers and council officers responsible for this master plan must have foreseen the widely acknowledged destruction that rock groynes cause to a beach system.

I assume the council has a serious, well-funded plan to mitigate this damage and that this plan will be ongoing. We noted the council has already attempted to tie a couple of trees back and that they’ve dumped a number of loads of sand around the base of some threatened trees — this sand disappeared within a couple of days and had absolutely no impact on the larger problem.

Barbara Dawson, Yorkeys Knob