NSW Government’s Coastal and Estuary Grants Program (Australia)

Deadline: 14-Sep-22

The NSW Government is offering grants under its Coastal and Estuary Grants Program to provide technical and financial support to local governments to help manage the coastal zone.

The program supports coastal and estuary planning projects and the implementation of works identified in certified coastal zone management plans or coastal management programs. Grant offers are subject to statewide priorities and availability of funds each financial year.

Aims

The program aims to help:

manage risks from coastal hazards, such as coastal erosion
restore degraded coastal habitats
improve the health of estuaries, wetlands and littoral rainforests across New South Wales.

What will be funded?

Funding is available under 6 funding streams: a planning stream, 4 implementation streams and one for identified significant open coast hazards locations.

Planning Stream
- Funding is available for planning projects that aim to:
  - develop a coastal management program (CMP)
  - transition a coastal zone management plan (CZMP) to a CMP
  - undertake investigations and designs or cost benefit analyses for infrastructure works recommended in a certified CMP.
Implementation Stream
- Funding is available for implementation of actions identified in certified coastal zone management plans or coastal management programs. Projects need to fit into 1 of 4 streams:
  - coastal vulnerability area
  - coastal wetland and littoral rainforest areas
  - coastal environment area
  - coastal use area.
Significant open coast hazards
- Councils with an identified significant open coast hazards location may apply for funding throughout the year for works that cannot wait until the next funding round. Funding is available for works that directly reduce/mitigate coast hazards related to a significant open coast hazards site.

Eligibility Criteria

Local councils
Joint organisations (established under an Act of Parliament)
Incorporated Regional Organisations of Councils (ROC)
Where multiple councils are working together within the same coastal sediment compartment or estuary to prepare and implement a Coastal Management Program, one council (county council, joint organisation or incorporated ROC) is required to be the lead agency in terms of signing the funding agreement, managing monies and reporting on the project
Local Land Services, county councils and public land managers (such as a Crown reserve trust or a location-specific NSW Government authority) in partnership with a lead council, providing the council or other eligible organisation is the principal applicant and assumes overall responsibility for administrating the grant