RecreationBeaches

Coast Park shared path from Sellicks Beach to North Haven, all along Adelaide's foreshore, progresses from 1992

Coast Park shared path from Sellicks Beach to North Haven, all along Adelaide's foreshore, progresses from 1992
The sections along the northwest suburb City of Charles Sturt beach frontage become the last and most contested to complete Adelaide's metropolitan Coast Park pathway over 70 kilometres from Sellicks Beach to North Haven. 

A vision for a 70-kilometres Adelaide metropolitan Coast Park shared alking trail from Sellick Beach in the south to North Haven in the north was contining to take shape from 1992, with gaps continuing to be filled.

The concept was for three-metres wide pathway, shared by walkers, joggers, cyclists, prams and wheelchairs.

The South Australian government and six metropolitan councils with beach frontage worked to create the Coast Park trail that was progressively developed alongside the foreshore. The aim throughout the project was to revitalise and sustain a pathway that protects sensitive dune areas and provides a healthy, diverse and accessible pathway.

More inaccessible gaps along the southern section of the coastline were being filled with projects such as suspension bridges between Marino and Hallett Cove, the opening of the former Port Stanvac oil refinery site as part of a homes development, and a boardwalk along the Witton Bluff cliff base between Port Noarlunga and Christies Beach.

Sections along the northwest City of Charles Sturt, that included dunes and homes having direct uninterrupted private access to the beachfront, became the most contested links for the pathway. The City of Charles Sturt completed its first section of Coast Park in 1998 along Marlborough Street, Henley Beach, followed by sections from West Beach through to Grange and sections within Semaphore Park.

The 4.8 kilometres section between Grange and Semaphore Park was divided by the Wara Wayingga-Tennyson Dunes Conservation Reserve. After extensive consultation, a two-stage approach was adopted: first, a linear park between Third Avenue, Semaphore Park, to the edge of Wara Wayingga-Tennyson Dunes Conservation Reserve, and a linear park or parks between the edge of Wara Wayingga-Tennyson Dunes Conservation Reserve to Terminus Street, Grange.

The other final section of the path to be constructed was from Third Avenue, Semaphore Park, to Shore Court, West Lakes Shore, and Bournemouth Street, Tennyson to Terminus Street, Grange. These sections involved the City of Charles Sturt having extensive consultation with foreshore property owners and occupiers as well as the broader community, including open sessions and a Coast Park Project Reference Group being formed. The council was also involved court action in 2017 with the Coastal Ecology Protection Group.

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