Umina Beach and Ocean Beach includes a set of ecologically sensitive sand dunes which protect the caravan park, our roads and houses from the ravages of the sea. These dunes give us a superb natural looking beach line which we all can enjoy and attracts many visitors to our suburb, providing jobs in the local community. We all have a role to play in protecting these dunes and their ecosystems for our community and the generations ahead.
We encourage the whole community to get behind Dunecare and its program of work to protect and improve the dunes,
Central Coast Council has a Coastal Zone Management Study which includes, amongst other items, new management strategies for Dune Management at Umina (to maintain the integrity of the dune system as nature’s last line of defence against wind and wave attack). Based on this study process, the existing Management Plan will be replaced with a new one. Umina Community Group are working within this process to greatly strengthen the protection afforded to the Umina/Ocean Beach Sand Dunes. This is in line with the community’s views that the dunes should be protected for future generations, to serve as a barrier during king tides and significant storms, and are a vitally important part of the social and ecological environment of the area.
Umina Community Group consider that the new Management Plan should extend beyond the work in the current Broken Bay Management Plan and be strengthened in the areas of:
- Active management of the dunes’ stability and erosion
- Encouraging dune ecology
- Development control
- Community participation and beach amenity
Umina Community Group is giving the people of Umina Beach a stakeholder position in this planning process allowing the views of the residents to be heard. On February 10, 2015 the Umina Community Group made a submission to CCC on behalf of the community to ensure the need to protect the sand dunes is understood.