DEAR News Of The Area,

SHOAL Bay and Fingal Bay are one East Coast Low away from a catastrophic period of isolation.

There is only one way in and one way out of Shoal Bay, and the recent storms have sent waves through the heads and crashing into the soft sand towards the western end of Shoal Bay.

This has caused significant erosion, and the high tide mark was within four or five metres of the bitumen on Shoal Bay Road opposite Harbourside Haven before urgent works were instigated to move sand down the beach to shore up the bank in the worst affected area.

However, this is loose sand, and if another East Coast Low should strike again before the sand has had time to restore its normal levels, and the bank has had time to revegetate, the road could easily collapse.

If that were to happen, there would quite simply be no way to drive into or out of Shoal Bay.

A sea wall is urgently needed for a stretch of beach about 100 metres long where the water is closest to the road and where it just happens to be the area exposed to the heads when the swell rolls through.

This should not be a political argument, this should be an agreement by all in power to do something physical on the site immediately.

No time for reports or studies, just save the road now and consider a longer-term option later.

The people of Shoal Bay need to go and have a look for themselves, see how bad it really is, and beg the State and Federal Government for immediate help, even if it means getting the army in to build a cement and sand bag wall.

This is mostly an act of nature, and the finger is not being pointed at anyone for it happening.

However, there will be finger pointing and a lot more if the road were to collapse before anything was done about it.

Regards,
Paul LE MOTTEE,
Mayoral candidate.