Stockton residents have been left unimpressed by what they describe as a truckload of "brown dirt" that has been used to rebuild their beach.
After vigorously campaigning for months for emergency intervention to allow the beach to be reopened following severe erosion, locals rejoiced when the first truckloads of sand arrived from a local quarry this week.
But their rejoicing had turned to dismay by Friday when they inspected the newly deposited "brown" sand at the southern end of the beach.
"It looks like stuff they couldn't sell to anyone else," Stockton resident Colleen Macleay said.
"Newcastle Council makes heaps of money from all of the tourists that come to the beach from the caravan park. I don't think they will find this very attractive."
A City of Newcastle spokeswoman said the sand had been certified as "virgin excavated natural sand" that had been sourced from a local, reputable quarry.
"The sand source was selected to best match the particle size of sand already on the beach," she said.
"As the sand nourishment source was from a natural site and not processed, other small particles such as silt could have been an insignificant proportion of the sand volume."
"It is also noted that the sand placement is expected to lighten in colour with exposure to weather and the constant wave mixing of both placed and pre-existing sand."
But resident Jill True was left unimpressed with the result.
"All of our sand is up there at Anna Bay. Why not bring it back down here?," she said.
The new sand has been deposited as part of a project to transfer 5500 tonnes of sand from two local quarries to the south end of the beach.
The $350,000 project - funded equally by City of Newcastle and the state government - is designed restore the beach's amenity and also allow the council to monitor sand movements along the Stockton coast.
It is anticipated that all construction works will be removed from site by Tuesday 17 December and South Stockton Beach and King Street area reopened to public access by the end of that week.
Investigations are continuing into potential long-term solutions to improve the condition of the beach, including the use of offshore sand dredging.
READ MORE:
- Fifty trucks a day will start delivering sand to Stockton Beach from next Monday
- Offshore dredging an option to rebuild Stockton Beach
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