Lake Conjola - Coastal Management Program (CMP)

The exhibition period for the Lake Conjola Entrance Management Policy (EMP) has been extended.

The draft document was placed on public exhibition in April after Council completed a series of technical studies.

Residents now have until 1 June 2025 to view the updated EMP.

View the draft Lake Conjola EMP via the Document Library on the Shoalhaven Entrance Management Policy Review webpage or through Council’s Documents on Exhibition webpage. The document includes information about excavation procedures that have been amended to facilitate quicker and more effective entrance openings to the ocean, to assist with flood mitigation.

The draft Lake Conjola Entrance Opening REF (2025) can be viewed via the Document Library on the Shoalhaven Entrance Management Policy Review webpage.

Council has now finalised the Response to Submissions (RTS) document for the Lake Conjola Coastal Management Plan (CMP). Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey or provided feedback during public exhibition. You can see how the project team has considered and responded to your submission here, and whether updates to the Lake Conjola CMP document were made.

The final CMP was presented to the Southern Coastal Management Program Advisory Committee on 24 March 2025. The Committee endorsed that the Lake Conjola CMP is provided to Council for adoption and then submitted to the relevant NSW Minister for certification. Council will work on delivering these next steps over the coming months. Once certified, the final CMP document will be uploaded to the Lake Conjola CMP Get Involved page.

To stay up to date on the Lake Conjola CMP, subscribe by clicking the Stay Informed icon on the top right of the Get Involved project page.

If you have questions, please contact the Coastal Management Unit at coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or call Council on 1300 293 111.

Council has recently completed a review of the entrance management arrangements for Lake Conjola. This involved the preparation of a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) to implement the draft Lake Conjola Entrance Management Policy (EMP).

The draft Lake Conjola Entrance Opening REF (2025) is now on public exhibition until Sunday 11 May 2025 and can be viewed via the Document Library on the Shoalhaven Entrance Management Policy Review webpage.

The EMP takes into consideration a range of environmental factors and includes the outcome of an evidence-based, technical review of the trigger levels to inform the entrance management options within the document.

The REF and EMP have been developed in consultation with several NSW Government agencies.

View the draft Lake Conjola EMP via the Document Library on the Shoalhaven Entrance Management Policy Review webpage or through Council’s Documents on Exhibition webpage.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the draft Lake Conjola Coastal Management Program (CMP). The project team will now consider all feedback provided during the public exhibition period to finalise the CMP. Once finalised, the results will be presented to Council for consideration, and then to the relevant NSW Minister for certification. Following certification, the CMP will be gazetted and enter Stage 5 where Council will implement, monitor, evaluate and report on management actions identified in the final CMP.

To stay up to date on the CMP, subscribe for project updates on this Get Involved Page. If you have questions, please contact the Coastal Management Unit at coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or call Council on 1300 293 111.

The Lake Conjola Coastal Management Program (CMP) is now on public exhibition for community consultation until 25 November 2024 as part of Stage 4 of the CMP development. The Lake Conjola CMP covers a study area that includes the waterbody of Lake Conjola (including Berringer Lake), adjacent foreshores, catchment area, and the Lake entrance to the ocean.

Stage 4 involves public exhibition of the draft CMP document, incorporating details from the technical studies and stakeholder feedback received from previous consultations completed throughout Stages 1 to 3 of the CMP process. The draft CMP encompasses a detailed program that lists the management actions for implementation over the next 10 years - including a schedule of when actions will be planned for implementation, their associated costs, how they will be funded, and who will be responsible for their implementation.

The draft CMP document can be accessed through the document library on this Get Involved webpage.

Online Survey is now closed.

Alternatively, should you have any questions on the draft CMP, or would like to provide feedback via email, please contact the Coastal Management Unit - coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au, or call Council on 1300 293 111.

Did you provide feedback during Stages 1-3 of the CMP? See how feedback has been considered by the project team through the development of the draft CMP in the Consultation Summary Document.

Council is pleased to share the Lake Conjola CMP Stage 3 – Identify and Evaluate Options Report.

The purpose of Stage 3 of the CMP development process was to identify and evaluate potential management actions to respond to the risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities determined through Stage 2 of the CMP. As part of Stage 3, a long list of potential management actions were developed and then assessed, ranked, and prioritised by the Project Team using a robust, decision-making framework in line with the NSW Coastal Management Framework. Stage 3 concluded with the identification of a short list of management actions to proceed to Stage 4. The Stage 3 Summary Report also outlines the community and stakeholder engagement completed as part of Stage 3.

The Lake Conjola CMP Stage 3 – Identify and Evaluate Options Stage 3 CMP Report is published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.

If you have questions about this report, or the CMP development process, please contact the Coastal Management Team at coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or call Council on 1300 293 111.

Did you provided feedback during Stage 2 and 3 of the Lake Conjola Coastal Management Program (CMP)? See how your comments have been considered by the project team on the Stage 2 & 3 - Closing the Loop published in the 'Document Library' on this web page.

Community consultation was completed during Stage 2 and 3 of the CMP to gain feedback from the community to be used in identifying and developing of the potential management actions for the CMP. Council received a number of submissions from the community over both Stages 2 and 3. The Consultation Factsheet outlines how this feedback is being considered through the evaluation of potential management actions in Stage 3 of the CMP.

The potential management actions identified in Stage 3 will inform the actions adopted in Stage 4 of the CMP. Stage 4 of the CMP will be publicly exhibited for further community input before the Lake Conjola CMP is finalised in mid 2024 through Council adoption and State Government certification.

Council is pleased to share the final Stage 2 Reports for the Lake Conjola CMP.

The purpose of Stage 2 of the CMP development process is to determine risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities for the CMP study area. Stage 2 is a technical stage that requires gathering the background information, developing a conceptual model, defining the coastal hazards within the area, and modelling and mapping the region to create a risk assessment based on the hazard mapping models. Stage 2 requires the studies identified in the Shoalhaven CMP Scoping Study to be undertaken.

The following Stage 2 reports are published in the 'Document Library' on this web page:

CMP Stage 2 - Report A - Environmental, Social & Cultural Assets and Attributes

CMP Stage 2 - Report B - Threats and Risk Assessment

CMP Stage 2 - Report C - Entrance Processes and Entrance Management Options

If you have questions about this report or the CMP development process, you can contact Council via e-mailing the Coastal Management Team – coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or by calling Council on 1300 293 111.

Community consultation on the potential management actions developed as part of Stage 3 of the Lake Conjola Coastal Management Program (CMP) closed on 27 August 2023. Council received 174 survey responses as well as submissions via the online mapping portals and direct e-mail submissions. Thank you to all who provided feedback.

The potential management actions will now be evaluated through the steps of Stage 3, taking your feedback into consideration, and will inform the actions adopted in Stage 4 of the CMP. Stage 4 of the CMP will be publicly exhibited for further community input before the Lake Conjola CMP is finalised through Council adoption and State Government certification.

Council will continue to publish updates as this project progresses.

If you have any questions about the CMP process, please don’t hesitate to contact the Coastal Management Team on coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au.

Community Consultation Period Extended to 27 August 2023

The Lake Conjola Coastal Management Program (CMP) is now progressing through to Stage 3. In this stage, a list of Potential Management Actions were developed for consideration. These potential management actions have been developed following consultation with both community and government stakeholders, and based on technical studies during Stage 2 of the CMP process.

We are asking the community to provide feedback and suggestions on the proposed management actions. Feedback from the community will be used to inform the actions adopted. The Draft CMP (Stage 4) will be publicly exhibited for further community input before it is finalised.

Please provide your feedback by reviewing the Potential Management Actions and completing the Online Survey. Several potential management actions can also be viewed on a map as they are location specific. You can show your support for the mapped actions using the interactive Map-based Feedback Portal. The interactive Map-based Suggestion Portal can be used to provide additional suggestions for potential management actions that will be reviewed by the project team.

For actions not shown on the map - You can provide your feedback directly via email to the Coastal Management Team – coastal.management@shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au or by calling Council on 1300 293 111.

Please provide you feedback by completing the Online Survey by 5pm Sunday, 27 August 2023.