LAST WEEK
The Colac herald reported that people were at great risk of being run over as they tried to walk along the Great Ocean Road in the sections shown on the attached photos ,( South of Marriners lookout Road)
20 YEARS OF INCOMPETENCE
The Council look like getting more reports and being party to more suspect works when the integration of the existing reports is the immediate thing needed to make progress with effective erosion control, beach dune restoration and long term safe access .
The process I want to see more of is called sustainability. Sustainability requires integration not more hallucination . Its mo wonder the State Government via GORCA are now determined to tell our Colac Otway Council what we already know, that is " they don't know what they are doing" .
After two decades of meddling and empire building ( The State haven't given up on the former ) the State are finally going to reinstate me , well at least someone with some of my qualifications in geomorphology .
I would rather our Council did a proper job so we would reduce the empire building( and the corruption risk that goes with it ), the growing fly in fly out cultures. and actually have some money to fix the walks . fat chance unless we work better together.
OUR BEACHES RUINED -- unnecessarily
Long standing members of this Council were advised many times about land use control ,runoff storage and dispersal to protect the beach ridge system as best as is possible under the conditions of reduced sand supply from the south .
Clearly not enough planning has been done with access and drainage pressures to reduce the erosion of the beach dune system. More attention to longitudinal and lateral grade maintaining measures are needed to ensure beach blown sand accumulates back in the foredune and dune. Significant changes to access and parking are also needed( more of it placed into the swale were expected)
While little can be done to replenish sand supply from the south ( since the harbour was built and the Barham bed load transfer is currently low , changes to pipe, surface drainage and water storage are still needed to help the dune stay more intact . Swales should be left for such a time as this .
THE TOTAL ECOSYSTEM
A least one building and quite a lot of fill (eg along the Joyce street crossing area has to be removed from the swale so this can happen, More public access and use of the swale ( say for parking and storm water storage) should have occurred decades ago.
The retention of beach is dependant on aggradation of sand in the dune system .Clearly not enough has been done to limit pipe and drainage and access impact. Complex integration advice was given to Council members, not only at on onsite meetings , but with various subdivisions and drainage plans. one of which is shown .
The State Subdivision Act provisions require all Councils to take a very significant percentage of the profit . from subdivisions and USE it to acquire more public land . where is it people ?
.We may never find out where that money went, but we expect the new Council to take back control of the swale and do the required works there
Ignoring the requirement for proper beach ridge protection, the Colac Otway Shire Council have allowed buildings and works on the swale .
Clearly Council to date have failed in their duty of care because they, like so many others before them, have seen only one, or perhaps two, problems - the beach and the erosion, and what some see as solutions ( More like distractions - more reports from consultants )
We can all see the natural sea erosion which occurs from time to time . What is less obvious is the rebuilding of beach and dune by wind blown sand and the normal transfer of sand along the coast in the tidal zone . Instead of integrated planning and study we have streams of new ideas that ignore the quiet extensive defaltion that goes on hour by hour across 50 metres of intertidal exposure when we are not there . Groins would not be expected to help here because there is little lateral transfer of sand in section shown : the subtle wind processes are the key
To protect something you need to protect the whole ecosystem, By not considering the whole system Council have thrown rock into what is and should be a predominantly sand system and made it worse. The pipes are not only far bigger than they need to be, the inverts and flood outlets are not even designed .
Colac Otway Shire Council have turned a lovely sandy beach into a rocky one.
THE BEACH RIDGE SYSTEM
Clearly Council have yet to come to grips with the processes of sand movement which are only addressed by works which deal with a variety of natural erosion and accumulation processes from the beach foredune dune to the swale. Storm runoff was naturally designed to be accommodated in the swale area greatly reducing the huge pipe systems placed by flat earth engineers. 
Compromises While the redevelopment of the swale is the key to much of the restoration, recent new building ,old low buildings filling of swale, road , parking and cutting of the dune( and allowing erosion - tracks and car parks shown ) have yet to be addressed in the context of restoring a functioning beach ridge system. Letter refer to areas of concern 
Some of THE DETAIL on this post has been removed, If you are not convinced that your Council has failed to take sound advice from the above detail, I am happy to receive genuine question s ( Features like the swale acquisition and restoration , the extra buildings on the swale to be removed , carparking, safer and stable access routes are not all shown partly because various planning matters have yet to be properly integrated. 20 consultancies of experts in various fields doesn't guarantee a sound sustainable and workable outcome . COT Council have yet to acknowledge the need for more swale, land drainage control and access changes . Sketches show some of the works still to be properly considered .
OTHER NATURAL SAND SUPPLY CONSTRAINTS
The protection of the swale is always necessary for periods when there is insufficient sand supply from the river . 
We can't do much to restore the sand supply connection ( see discussion on Facebook Otway Community News re Barham river ) and transfer south, now that the harbour is built. . The rock barrier for the harbour tends to drive the sand into the deep sea ( presumably a big loss ) but the restoration of the dune and no compromises in the swale ( as have been arranged south of the river mouth in the case of the Barham ) are necessary, possible and must be done first . ..
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