Finding a place in the sand is as Aussie as barbecuing snags and playing two-up on Anzac Day but the beach can prove an unavigable nightmare to people in wheelchairs, the elderly or people pushing prams.

Now Lake Macquarie City Council, near Newcastle in NSW, is rolling out the welcome mat to people with disabilities, the elderly and pram-pushing parents.

The council recently won $35,000 prize under the state government’s Creating Liveable Communities Competition, whose aim is to fund imaginative solutions to barriers faced by people with disabilities, older people and carers.

The matting will be rolled out on Caves Beach, one of the area’s most popular stretches of sand, with the help of the local surf lifesaving club.

Lake Macquarie Mayor Jodie Harrison said that the council had received many requests from people with disabilities and their carers to provide access to the city’s patrolled beaches.

“While access improvements have taken place at many of our beaches, the provision of beach matting will enhance these improvements by allowing wheelchair users, people with a disablity, carers and the elderly improved access to the sand,” Ms Harrison said.

“This will provide equal opportunity for people wiith a disability to access the beach and participate in water activities, as well as to the wider community including parents with younger children.”

Lake Macquarie City Council has also recently finished buildinga boardwalk made of recycled plastic, so that wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility can have a view of Blacksmiths Beach and the surrounding dune areas.

The council’s Manager of Community Planning John Ferguson said the boardwork was constructed using world-leading recycling technology – which uses reprocessed plastic waste and turns it into recycled plastic products.

“Using the recycled plastic product is intended to provide a longer lifespan than the traditional timber raised boardwalk surface used in beachside locations in the past,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The new path is comprised of a mix of concrete and recycled plastics, which provides a sturdy and long lasting asset for the community.

“Due to its innovation, Council will look at using recycled plastic materials in future beach access projects and is currently investigating the replacement of the adjoining timber viewing platform in a similar product.”

The Newcastle area appears to be helping to lead the way in beach access for people with disabilities. Cooks Hill Lifesaving and Surf Club in Newcastle installed rubber beach matting in 2013 after one of its members had a serious cycling accident.

But it’s an area that few councils seem to have looked into and the US is streets ahead of Australia, with a number of companies manufacturing beach matting for wheelchair users.

On the positive side, there are more than 50 locations in NSW where you canborrow beach wheelchairs with low-pressure balloon wheels. The Disabled Surfers Association has a list of these locations, mostly from beaches or surf lifesaving clubs.

American company Mobi-Mat RECPATH manufacturers lightweight, stable and durable beach matting made of 100 per cent recycled polyester for exactly this purpose. Interestingly the design is based on the matting used by US Marines for vehicular beach landing operations and it is non-slip and drains easily. The matting can also include a T-shaped turning area.

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