Council awaits lagoon plan approval

The coastal zone management plan for Pearl Beach Lagoon is still awaiting Ministerial approval, according to Central Coast Council.

The council has stated it submitted the plan to Minister for the Environment Ms Gabrielle Upton on September 7.

Ms Upton has until June 30 to approve the plan.

The draft plan was produced in February 2014 to provide a strategic framework and action plan for the future management of the Pearl Beach Lagoon.

It had an indicative 10-year timeframe.

It aimed to redress current issues, and conserve existing values, using a range of implementation mechanisms, including on-ground works, community engagement programs and planning instruments.

The plan includes an indicative costing, potential funding sources and identifies responsibilities for implementation and future monitoring.

The primary goal of the Pearl Beach Lagoon Coastal Zone Management Plan was to improve lagoon health into the future, according to the draft plan.

Areas highlighted for improvement included water quality but also the condition of fringing vegetation including the melaleuca wetland listed as an Endangered Ecological Community of Coastal Sand Swamp Forest under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and fringing sedgelands.

The plan also aimed to improve the diversity and abundance of native wetland fauna including water birds.

The top 10 identified threats to the health of the lagoon were listed as stormwater pollution, weed invasion, the weir, infilling of foreshores, foreshore management including mowing, shallowing and sedimentation, pollution incidents other than stormwater, introduced fauna, climate change and algal blooms.

SOURCES:

Agenda item 4.1, 18 Dec 2017

Central Coast Council ordinary meeting

Website, 20 Dec 2017

Coastal Lagoons Management Planning, Central Coast Council

Plan, 1 Feb 2014

Pearl Beach Lagoon CZM Plan, Central Coast Council