AT 84 years old, Bert Lankford thought he had just about seen it all.

But the erosion plaguing the coast at Kingscliff and Fingal is the worst he has ever seen, and he arrived in Kingscliff before the roads had bitumen.

Safe on the hill at his home in Herford St, Mr Lankford recalled fishing from the road between Faulks Park and the ocean – the road no longer exists.

Mr Lankford said despite being a firm believer for many years that the sand would return, he had begun to lose faith.

“I used to believe that if you leave it it will come back, but I just don't know any more.

“This is the worst I've seen it; it has changed so dramatically.”

Mr Lankford said he had followed the situation closely as a real estate agent and developer in the 1960s and 1970s.

“I've taken a great interest in it over the years,” he said.

“I built five shops near the hotel many years ago and people asked me if I was worried. I wasn't then, at that stage there was metres of sand behind the bowls club.”

Mr Lankford said he believed the creation of rock walls was the cause of the damaging erosion.

“The council engineer at the time I was in real estate. Peter Border was against the rock walls, saying they interfered with nature,” he said.

“We knew when they were built that the walls would restrict the movement of sand, but we never dreamt it would be so bad.

“You've got to do something to protect it but removing that wall just doesn't seem like something anyone would do.”

Despite being saddened at the desperate situation, Mr Lankford said there was no point blaming Tweed Shire Council.

“Gosh I think we're going through some terrible times all across the coast of Australia,” he said.

“You've got to applaud the council in some regard.

“The ratepayers complain about the cost, but what else can they do?”