CY O’Connor Beach’s dunes have been battered. Photo by Colin Nichol

COCKBURN council has engaged coastal erosion experts to try and work out what to do with CY O’Connor Beach.

While neighbouring Fremantle’s coastal woes have grabbed the headlines recently because of the threat to cafes and carparks, Cockburn’s chief engineer Charles Sullivan acknowledges they’ve got their own big, expensive problems to deal with.

“Following the recent major storm impacts, a risk assessment was carried out and the section of shared path just south of Rollinson Road nearest to the most severely eroded beach dune was fenced off to prevent pedestrian access,” Mr Sullivan told the Herald.

The erosion was just a couple of metres from the path, parts of which had already been replaced after storms a few years back.

“Warning signage was also provided. This safety measure will stay in place until the area is made safe by reinstatement works on the seaward side of the shared path,” Mr Sullivan said.

The council recently completed a consultation to gauge what residents valued about the beach and what they’d like to see in the future, as part of larger project to find long-term solutions to the ongoing erosion.

Mr Sullivan said more than 681 people logged on to learn about the project, while the council also held pop-up sessions to chat with locals at the beach.

Mr Sullivan said the engineers would use that feedback along with their own data to develop concept designs which would be released for more feedback when they’ve been received.

He said the city has been trying to winkle out funding from the state and federal governments for help dealing with erosion “for many years”.