A Coastal Management Program is the document the NSW coastal legislation requires before serious money can flow to coastal works. Council’s Open Coast CMP covers the region’s ocean beaches over the next ten years, and council announced on 19 June that the NSW Government has now certified it as meeting all statutory and mandatory requirements.

  1. August 2025 The draft Open Coast CMP goes on public exhibition for the first time.
  2. March 2026 Re-exhibited with amendments after community and stakeholder feedback.
  3. April 2026 Council endorses the final document.
  4. June 2026 NSW Government certifies the CMP.
  5. Next Grant applications: certification makes council eligible for NSW funding and strengthens federal applications, particularly for offshore sand nourishment.

The Wamberal decision

The plan’s most watched line is its answer for Wamberal Beach, where erosion has repeatedly threatened beachfront homes: the certified CMP adopts sand nourishment underpinned by a buried rock revetment as the preferred management solution. In plain terms: rebuild and keep topping up the beach with sand, with an engineered rock structure buried beneath it as the backstop when big seas strip the sand away.

Environment and planning director Luke Nicholls tied the certification straight to money: “As well as outlining a clear direction for future years, certification also makes us eligible for grants from the NSW Government, to deliver on that management,” he said, adding that a NSW endorsement “also strengthens our position in applying for Federal grants, particularly in dealing with some of the offshore sand nourishment actions envisaged within the plan.”

The money is already being lined up

Council’s Key Enabling Projects 2026 wishlist includes a $40 million ask for coastal management sand nourishment, and the adopted 2026-27 budget added $3.5 million over four years for implementing Coastal Management Programs, including dredging The Entrance Channel. Neither is the Wamberal build itself; both show the direction of travel. Acting Mayor John Mouland called the coastline “one of the Central Coast’s greatest assets” in the certification announcement.

The saga this milestone belongs to is longer than any one announcement, so The Coast Record keeps a running account on the Wamberal Beach erosion record page, updated as each chapter lands.