HNRS CMP is transitioning into Stage 3

Hawkesbury Nepean River System Coastal Management Program newsletter

Issue 5, August 2023

The Hawkesbury Nepean River System Coastal Management Program (CMP or HNRS CMP) is being developed by six councils that border the tidal section of the Hawkesbury River estuary with support from the NSW Government. The CMP sets the long-term strategy for the coordinated management of the HNRS with a focus on achieving the objects of the NSW Coastal Management Act (2016). The CMP will primarily focus on the coastal management areas within the tidal section stretching over 145 km of the Hawkesbury river from Broken Bay up to Yarramundi near Richmond. The CMP also covers the waterways of Pittwater and Brisbane Water which converge with the Lower Hawkesbury River at Broken Bay.

For further information on this project and the CMP process, visit hawkesburynepeancmp.org

CMP transitions into Stage 3

Our CMP follows a five-stage risk management approach recommended by NSW Government’s Coastal Management Manual.

In March 2023 additional funding was provided through the NSW Coastal and Estuary Grants program to progress the HNRS CMP through Stages 3 & 4.

While the HNRS CMP project team (Steering Committee) are in the process of selecting and engaging a suitably qualified consultant to support the project through Stages 3 and 4, we are encouraging our subscribers to review the outputs of Stage 2, including the results of technical studies commissioned to address the knowledge gaps identified in the Scoping Study (Stage 1) and some of the outcomes from educational and engagement activities undertaken so far.

Stage 2 completed

6 x project factsheets:

Click on links below to view

Technical studies

Stage 2 involved an extensive amount of work to address knowledge gaps identified in the Scoping Study. This work has resulted in the development of a number of technical studies which will guide the science-based approach to River system management and future decision making and planning.

Final reports and video summaries for some of the studies (presentations of study outcomes) are available at the Progress Update section of our website.

7 x engagement events:

HNRS CMP project team engaged with over 300 people while participating in several community events organised within our Partner Council LGAs over the duration of Stage 2, including:

Annual fishing festival Fishfest (25-27 Feb 2022)
Let’s Talk Woy Woy (9 Jun 2022)
Celebrating the Deerubbin - a Festival of the Hawkesbury River (18 Jun 2022)
Woytopia (31 Oct 2022)
Taste of Seafood Festival (18 Feb 2023)
Tide2Tip (oyster industry – council) clean up event (22 Feb 2023)
Let’s Talk Gosford (30 Mar 2023)

21 local & state government agencies engaged

In November 2022 a full-day workshop was organised to update government agencies on the progress with the 2nd stage of the CMP. 28 representatives from various government agencies that work in the Hawkesbury Nepean River space came together to share new information about each other’s work and reaffirm commitment and collaboration during the next stage of the CMP.

5 x newsletters sent to 700 recipients

Review previous newsletter issues here and subscribe to news & updates here.

We aim to provide regular updates to our subscribers to keep you informed on the progress with the CMP development. We always encourage you to forward these newsletters to your friends, family and colleagues with the keen interest in the future of the Hawkesbury Nepean River System. In the last 18 months our database grew from 500 to 700 individual/organisation subscribers.

1 x community consultation platform

Click on the image to view the home page of the engagement platform (note: no feedback is currently being sought)

During Stage 2 we have used this one-stop-platform to collect the following feedback from our community and stakeholders:

Information on what our community values the most about the River system, reason behind these values as well as the information about how the river and adjacent foreshores are frequently used.
Online survey distributed to community and circulated among our Partner Council internal teams helped us identify understand priority threats to be addressed in further stages of the CMP from the perspective of both community and councils’ staff members.
Information collected via an online interactive mapping tool that allowed respondents to pinpoint particular threats helped us identify high-priority areas within the study area.

Information collected throughout the consultation period was fed into the Community Uses and Values Report that can be viewed here.

1 x photo competition

Click on the image to view the map of locations of where some of the photos were taken

To celebrate World River Day in 2021, we ran a photo competition that in just three weeks resulted in 363 unique submissions. Two rounds of voting determined 3 winning submissions, authors of which each received one of our prize giveaways - an NSW National Parks ‘All-Parkes’ pass.

16 x CMP project team meetings

Members of the CMP Steering Committee, consisting of representatives from Partner Councils and DPE, aim to meet at least once a month to reinforce the collaborative approach to CMP development and make sure that the latest news and information are shared between all key stakeholders in a timely and efficient manner.

You received this email because you have requested to be kept informed of the progress with the CMP development. If you no longer wish to receive updates from us you can unsubscribe below.

This newsletter will be released as the project progresses, so keep an eye out on our project website for more regular updates - hawkesburynepeancmp.org. Feel free to forward the Hawkesbury Nepean River System CMP Newsletter!

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Thanks for staying involved and contributing to the Hawkesbury Nepean River System Coastal Management Program!

Best wishes from members of the Hawkesbury Nepean River System CMP Steering Committee