Ettalong Beach foreshore works near completion

The Ettalong Beach foreshore upgrade works are expected to be completed within the next couple of months.

The beach renourishment program is approximately 40 per cent complete and the sandstone seawall and drainage infrastructure are 95 per cent complete.

The beach facilities building is 25 per cent complete.

Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Mainstreet co-ordinator Ms Debra Wales said Gosford Council, in conjunction with Scape Constructions, hosted a "sneak-peak" tour of the construction works on the foreshore on Friday, October 25.

"We have been highly impressed with both the progress and the standard of work as the project nears completion," Ms Wales said.

"The Plan of Management was initiated by the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce under their Mainstreet Program in 1998, with the early stages of planning funded under Gosford Council's Financial Strategy after the Ettalong Beach town centre revitalisation had been completed."

Ms Wales said that, at that time, the beachfront and waterfront reserve was the next obvious stage to plan following the town centre street upgrade works.

"Over the years the beachfront and reserve had degraded so badly that very few people used the area", Ms Wales said.

"It had become a haven for anti-social behaviour and was unsafe for young families to visit.

"At the time, the business community was very focused on doing something to protect the beauty of Ettalong Beach and bring back families to our waterfront."

Ms Wales said that after many years of planning, environmental studies, surveys and numerous community consultation meetings, Gosford Council finally adopted the Plan of Management in 2007.

"The completed project will see thousands of visitors coming to experience one of the best coastlines in Australia, bringing with them economic growth to the town centre," she said.

"The first stage commenced in 2008 with the removal of the unwanted toilet block at Picnic Pde, followed by the construction of the three viewing decks which were completed with Federal Government funding.

"In 2010, the then Federal Member for Robertson Ms Deborah O'Neill committed $2 million of Federal funds to complete the upgrade on the Ettalong Beach reserve but the work did not commence until the council's new general manager Mr Paul Anderson put the process into action.

"Gosford Council's new general manager has been the driving force to complete the project and through his management, we now see the project nearing completion with the formal opening early next year.

"Since that first meeting with council's senior engineering officer Mike Alsop in the mid-1990s, where we drew the initial plan of the Ettalong Beach upgrade on the back of an envelope, we were determined to see it come to fruition.

"We and the community have been rewarded with new foreshore facilities that we can sit back and enjoy into the future".

Media release, 1 Nov 2013

Debra Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce

Email, 28 Oct 2013

Gosford Council Media