Safe and accessible beach access points
The beaches of the northern Bellarine Peninsula have huge value and appeal to residents and visitors alike. We are working to ensure access to the beaches is safe and provides options for everyone, while being sustainable and protecting cultural and environmental values.
Australia is known as a beach country with one of the longest national coastlines in the world and around 85% of Australia's population living within 50 km of the coast. The beach has come to symbolise the Australian way of life – fun, freedom and independence.
We are undertaking a beach access study to ensure we maintain and improve beach access to be safe, equitable and sustainable.
Your insights and feedback will help shape future planning for beach access along our coast.
Preliminary investigations have identified 333 beach access points (both formal and informal) along the 17 km of northern Bellarine coast managed by Bellarine Bayside, equating to approximately one access point for every 50 m.
Of the current access points, only two are considered accessinble for people with mobility issues, and many are not formalised, having been created as people cross the dune to access the beautiful beaches. Informal access points create risk for both people and the precious coastal environment. They are often narrow, uneven or arriving at unsafe beaches, and they impact on cultural, marine and coastal values.
The beach access study will explore the challenges and opportunities around current beach access points. It will:
- Provide a sustainable long-term strategy to strike a balance between providing access to the beach and minimising impacts on cultural and environmental values.
- Consider safety and accessibility requirements.
- Provide a management framework to assist with planning the ongoing maintenance and renewal of beach access points.
- Inform future improvements to beach access along our coast.
How you can provide input
We will engage with the community during the study to understand local experience, knowledge and ideas for beach access.
The first phase of community engagement will involve gather community values, concerns and ideas along the coast through our "Planning Our Future Coast" project.
Have Your Say
Tell us more about your values, concerns and ideas via 'Planning Our Future Coast' - an integrated engagement project to help shape four key plans.
