Community provides input into Cosy Corner Timber Seawall upgrade
Published on 01 August 2024
Residents and visitors to the Surf Coast are encouraged to provide feedback on potential adaptation options and actions to protect a much-loved section of Torquay coast. A
s part of our commitment to protect and manage the Great Ocean Road’s coast and parks, we are undertaking some much-needed coastal adaptation planning to improve the resilience of Cosy Corner.
Feedback is being received via https://haveyoursay.greatoceanroadauthority.vic.gov.au/cosy-up, following an open day where about 50 community members talked through their preferred options.
The timber seawall at Cosy Corner, built in the 1950’s and rebuilt or repaired several times, has deteriorated beyond repair.
A row of protective rock bags was placed at the toe of the structure in March 2023 to reduce further undermining, while we’ve investigated how to best upgrade the seawall.
We’ve released six adaptation options for the community’s consideration, which includes:
- A new vertical seawall
- A new rock seawall revetment
- A new sloped / stepped seawall
- Maintenance of the existing seawall and rock bags -
- Beach nourishment
- a managed retreat, featuring the creation of a setback zone.
These options were identified based on work done in earlier stages of the coastal adaptation planning process, including:
- assessing coastal processes and hazard exposure
- examining site specific data and modelling to understand coastal hazard vulnerability and risk;
- and undertaking social, environmental, economic and cultural values assessments.
More details on how feedback from the community has informed the ‘Cosy Up’ project can be found in our Stage 2 Summary Engagement Report.
The report is available on the project page at https://haveyoursay.greatoceanroadauthority.vic.gov.au/cosy-up
We thank the 94 community members who completed the online survey, and the 24 people who provided their insights via one of the ‘walk and talk’ sessions we held at the beach.
The upgrade of the seawall is being delivered with the support of a Victorian Government Coastal Erosion Preparedness grant, with concept designs to be released later this year.
Our approach to the seawall upgrade follows the direction of the Marine and Coastal Policy 2020 and Victoria’s Resilient Coast – Adapting for 2100+ framework and guidelines.
Quotes attributable to Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority Director Infrastructure and Planning Cath Olive:
"The aim of the seawall upgrade is to increase the resilience of this popular stretch of coast, and to better protect it against coastal hazards.
“We want the community to provide feedback on what they consider to be the most appropriate adaptation option to use to protect Cosy Corner.
"We welcome any further details on what we should consider in the design."