Deadline: 28-Feb-23
The Coast Protection Board’s annual Coast Protection Grants provide funding to coastal councils to better manage and protect South Australia’s valuable coastal assets and address climate change risks.
The Coast Protection Grant program is administered by the Coast Protection Board with the support of the Department for Environment and Water.
High priorities for funding are works that address risks such as erosion or flooding, including foreshore protection, dune rehabilitation, and coastal maintenance, and strategic studies which inform decisionmaking through data collection and analysis, vulnerability and hazard assessment, and/or provide coastal adaptation options.
The types of projects that have received grants in the past include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Construction of erosion control or flood protection works such as seawalls or levees,
- Cliff stability studies and works,
- Repair of storm-damaged protection structures,
- Beach replenishment for coastal protection purposes,
- Preparation of coordinated (e.g. whole-of settlement, regional) coastal adaptation strategies.
Funding Information
- $1 million is available for 2022-23 Coast Protection Grants.
Eligible Projects
The types of projects that are ineligible include, but may not be limited to, the following:
- Protection of private property.
- Protection of development approved unwisely and against the Board’s or Department’s advice.
- Protection of coastal property and installations owned by other government agencies.
- Purchase of equipment.
Eligibility Criteria
- All South Australian councils with a coastline are eligible to apply for a Coast Protection Grant.
- The purpose of coast protection funding is defined in the Coast Protection Board’s policy document.
- Grant funding is intended for situations that have arisen because of some previous mistake or lack of understanding about coastal processes. The grants are not intended for protection of development approved unwisely and against the Board’s or Department’s advice.
- The Board also requires that any grant-funded protection works have outcomes that benefit the general public, such as maintenance of public access along the coast.
- The Board’s policy not to protect private property was affirmed by State Government in 1980 and has been applied since then.
Assessment
Project proposals are evaluated against the Coast Protection Board’s established assessment criteria by a panel of coastal management experts. The assessment is based on a risk-benefit analysis which takes into account the likelihood and consequences of the coastal hazard(s) being addressed against the following criteria:
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Likelihood of coastal hazard
- Considers the frequency of risk. For example: a risk may commonly occur several times per year, or it may be expected only once in 100 years.
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Consequences of inaction
- Considers legal/regulatory responsibilities and social, economic and environmental impacts.
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Benefits of the project
- Considers time scale of benefit (i.e. long-term versus short-term) and scale of benefit (i.e. wide-scale versus isolated benefit).
Applicants have the opportunity to provide information to address these criteria in the application form.
Projects addressing the highest risks and projects demonstrating the most benefit will receive the highest scores. Projects are prioritised according to these scores, and funded until available funds are allocated.
For more information, visit Department for Environment and Water.
For more information, visit https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/coasts/grants-and-opportunities/regional-coast-protection-grants
