Stockton Community Liaison Group supports a plan for mass sand nourishment on their beach but wants more detail on how it will be implemented and funded.
Public submissions on the council's draft coastal management program (CMP) closed on Wednesday after years of debate and research on how to address the issue of erosion at Stockton.
Residents on the council's liaison group said in their submission that the CMP "correctly identifies" the community's desire for offshore sand nourishment as the preferred solution.
But their submission says the CMP contains "no practical details ... on how this will be achieved nor any indication of how it will be funded".
"This is not an acceptable outcome," it says.
The CMP recommends spending $18.68 million over five years on seawalls, sand nourishment from onshore sources and other measures to mitigate damage. Most of these projects would depend on securing grants from the NSW government.
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The council said in May that mass sand nourishment would cost $21 million initially and $12 million every decade to maintain.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro urged the council in March to apply for an offshore mining licence, but the CMP notes "offshore marine extraction is currently not permissible as there is no regulation gazetted under the Offshore Minerals Act 1994 that will allow an entity to apply for a mining licence off the NSW coast".
Mr Barilaro also announced in March a taskforce of government agencies, council representatives and community members to look at ways of funding and sourcing sand for Stockton.
The liaison group wrote in its submission that "significant risk exists of ending up without delivery of the cornerstone sand nourishment if there is no funding for that delivery in this CMP".
City of Newcastle said in a media statement that 74 per cent of the 162 community and 19 agency submissions supported the CMP.
Liaison group chair Barbara Whitcher said her group backed the CMP and its feedback was meant to be constructive rather than critical.
She acknowledged the CMP was a work in progress and the council had been forced to prepare and approve it by a June 30 government deadline without knowing the outcome of the taskforce's discussions.
The taskforce is due to meet on Tuesday.
The council said it "respectfully does not agree" that the CMP should contain more detail on funding.
"It is unrealistic to expect the state government or any other organisation to commit to funding a long-term solution to coastal erosion without those actions first being approved via a certified CMP," a spokesperson said.
"Given the regulatory restrictions around offshore sand nourishment, the Stockton CMP includes iterative management actions that commit City of Newcastle to working with the Deputy Premier's Taskforce to confirm sand sources, approval processes and funding options for offshore nourishment, all to be determined within the five-year timeframe of the Stockton CMP."
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