Northern Beaches Council is moving to a streamlined lifeguard service, introducing greater flexibility to manage risk and delivering a consolidated service across the whole council area.
Following a comprehensive service review, lifesaving services on 9 beaches which have been contracted to the Australian Lifeguard Service (ALS) in the north of the peninsula will be brought in house, in line with the management of services in the south of the Local Government Area.
The move will provide a range of benefits while being cost neutral to ratepayers.
The changes will be implemented from next patrol season in September 2025. Volunteer lifesaving operations will continue to operate seasonally on weekends and during holiday periods, complementing the professional lifeguard service.
Northern Beaches is the only metropolitan council that still used an external contractor to provide partial lifeguard services.
Northern Beaches Council and the former Manly and Warringah councils have managed lifeguard services for many decades. Manly Council was one of the first local government areas to introduce a service in the early 1900s and Warringah started a service at Palm Beach in 1936.
Mayor Sue Heins said beach safety is a core service which Council has the expertise and capability to manage inhouse.
“With beach visitation and rescues on the increase, moving to one service will provide greater consistency and flexibility for lifeguards, leading to an improved service for the community,” Mayor Heins said.
“Council's expertise in protecting beach goers has been proven over many decades and we look forward to applying that experience across the whole of the Northern Beaches.
“Lifeguard coordinators will be able to better allocate resources to where they are needed most and respond to demand and surf conditions.
“If there are still lots of people on the beach at 6pm we can have our teams remain on the beach longer.
“And we’ll have the ability to implement better cross training and development opportunities for lifeguards, strengthen relationships with volunteer surf lifesaving clubs located in the northern area, remove duplication and collect more regular and consistent data to identify safety trends and efficiencies.
“There will also be ongoing service efficiencies and expected economies of scale.
“Importantly, for beach visitors the only noticeable change will be the colour of the uniform the lifeguards wear, with many of the former ALS staff transferring over to Council.”
Mayor Heins thanked ALS for their services over many years.
“ALS has provided a great service in the north of our area and we thank them for their commitment to our community”.
ALS contract expires in June 2025 and Council are working with ALS and local clubs to ensure a seamless transition to the new service.
Fact sheet
Northern Beaches Council Beach Services
- Northern Beaches has 21 patrolled beaches.
- Most beaches are patrolled for 32 weeks between September and April. Dee Why and Freshwater are patrolled for 40 weeks from the beginning of September to the end of May. Manly is patrolled year-round.
- During the 2023/2024 season, there were 12.9 million visitations to the 21 patrolled beaches.
- There were 1,729 rescues and 10,615 first aid cases recorded for the 2023/24 season.
- Lifeguard services are consistently the most highly rated Council service, achieving a 99% satisfaction rating in Council’s most recent Community Satisfaction Survey in 2024.
- The Council employed lifeguards patrol 12 beaches from Manly to North Narrabeen 7 days a week and are supported by volunteer surf lifesavers on weekends and public holidays.
- ALS (under contract to Northern Beaches Council) provide a patrol service to the 9 beaches from Warriewood to North Palm Beach on weekdays, as well as emergency response for Turimetta beach as required on weekdays. These beaches are patrolled by NSW Volunteer Surf Life Saving Clubs on weekends and public holidays.