Kingscliff Beach is the only foreshore in the Tweed Shire that has significant community assets at risk from erosion. It is the most highly visited beach in the area, with community assets along the foreshore and local businesses directly behind that. Tweed Shire Council considered ongoing sand nourishment to manage the erosion, but after a major erosion event realised this wouldn't be sustainable. The decision was made to put in a 650m seawall. This has led to episodic erosion both in front of and on either side of the wall. Since construction of the wall artificial nourishment has not been successful but allowing natural processes to replenish the beach has retained a healthy beach width most of the time. The renourishment now focuses on opportunistically replenishing either end of the beach when sediment becomes available from river or creek dredging. The nourishment goes up to and includes the dunes. The dunes are revegetated by both natural recruitment and supplementary planting. Interestingly, the most recent nourishment of sediment from the estuarine area was quite coarse, and the dunes have been much slower to revegetate on their own since that renourishment.

Beach renourishment

Method: Artificially nourished

Sand source: River

Sand placement: Visible beach, Dune area

Frequency of renourishment: Periodic/opportunistic, once every 5-10 years

Date of first renourishment: 2019