Swansea MP Yasmin Catley calls on NSW government to use sand dredged from Swansea Channel to replenish Redhead Beach

Residents estimated that up to eight feet of sand may have been lost from Redhead after monster swells stripped the beach right back to the surf club and cafe.

Lake Macquarie council has estimated it could take up to two years for the sand to return to the beach on its own.

Hunter Surf Life Saving president Henry Scruton told the Herald that sand replacement would be ideal to replenish the heavily eroded coastline, but understood there were many hoops to jump through with resanding Stockton Beach.

However, Ms Catley said the solution to the Redhead issue "maybe staring us right in the face". The state government has committed to removing 20 Olympic swimming pools worth of sand from the Swansea Channel in the first half of this year.

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She said the idea had been successfully accomplished before in a 2019 trial that saw dredged sand from Swansea Channel used to refresh Blacksmiths Beach.

"I am calling on the government to use the sand from dredging Swansea Channel to renourish our beaches, it is an opportunity to address coastal erosion that should not be missed," she said.

"The sand from the channel is usually dumped on Elizabeth Island but a pilot program in 2019 saw the sand used to renourish Blacksmiths Beach to great success.

"The reuse of this sand helps solve two problems at once and just simply makes sense as the logical course of action moving forward."

A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the government was working "as quickly as possible" to get through the necessary environmental approvals before awarding a dredging contract for the channel.

"We expect the Review of Environmental Factors to be completed in April 2022 and the contract to go to tender soon afterwards," the spokesperson said.

"The reuse of sand on adjacent beaches is considered in this process."

Ms Catley has long called for a permanent solution to silting in Swansea Channel, which has been a bane for boaties who have either become stuck in fast moving sand, or dodged Lake Macquarie all together to avoid the problem.

Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie assisted 258 vessels in the lake over the busy warmer period from November to February, including 35 that became grounded and 48 requiring an escort.

While the statistics take in the entire lake, the rescue said they rarely see grounding in areas other than Swansea Channel.

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