CONFIRMATION of a $6.2 million funding package to put 300,000 cubic metres of sand at the southern end of Stockton Beach has been welcomed as a down-payment on the massive task of arresting and ultimately reversing the loss of the Stockton shoreline.
But even as Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW, Paul Toole, was taking credit for the program - saying the state government had provided the $1.5 million contribution provided by the City of Newcastle - cracks were appearing as the Newcastle Herald began to ask some basic questions about the way the sand replenishment project would operate.
