Peninsula News 503

Page 1

COMMUNITY ACCESS EDITION 503

REAL INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWS

What the St Hubert’s Island bridge could look like with the planned fence

21 SEPTEMBER 2020

St Huberts Island Bridge before the planned works

Wicks called to intervene in bridge dispute A new community action group on St Huberts Island, the Bridge Warriors, is calling on Member for Robertson Ms Lucy Wicks to intervene in a dispute over an upgrade to the St Huberts Island bridge.

The group is asking Ms Wicks to intervene before a Federal grant is signed off to enable Central Coast Council to proceed with an upgrade it has planned for the bridge. Bridge Warriors organiser Ms Lindy Wilson said the group did not want a $900,000 grant spent to install public nuisance barriers

designed to prevent people jumping off the bridge into the water. She said the project would be “a misuse of precious public money”. “The use of monitored CCTV, with clearer signage, fines for those who do the wrong thing and regular patrolling during summer months would be significantly cheaper, more effective and would not devastate the beautiful aesthetics of the bridge,” she said. Group member Mr Mike Wade said that the core safety issue with the bridge had been completely ignored. “The bridge is very old and has

a very narrow footpath and no separation or protection from the passing traffic. “The lack of this protection coupled with the many trip hazards is just an accident waiting to happen.” Another group member Ms Carol Khouri said the proposed fence design “is incredibly ugly and not in any way in keeping with our beautiful suburbs of St Huberts Island and Daleys Point”. She said the council had only paid lip-service to community consultation, and had not responded to the community’s wishes. The St Huberts Island

Residents Association has also opposed the project and has continued to press for residents’ views to be respected. Association president Mr Ken Stewart said: “On April 17, when the association was advised by Council of its proposed galvanised weld-mesh safety barrier, we immediately realised what an over-powering addition this would be to our bridge. “We advised all the Island residents by letterbox drop showing the proposed barriers. “There was an overwhelming resident reaction with 223 responses, 160 seen by the association, sent to Council.

“The vast majority of replies from the respondents request the repainting and restoration of the existing bridge balustrade, and were appalled at the proposed weld-mesh barriers.” As Peninsula News went to press, Ms Wicks released a statement saying that she would meet with Central Coast Council in the coming week and “will continue to work with the residents around St Huberts Island to deliver a safer bridge for all”.

SOURCE: Media release, 15 Sep 2020 Stephen Ghent, Bridge Warriors Media statement, 18 Sep 2020 Lucy Wicks, Member for Robertson

Council to spend $7.5M from contribution plans A total of $7.472 million will be taken from Peninsula “developer contribution plans” to fund projects on the Peninsula over the next four years.

Money for the plans are contributed by property developers as a condition of development approval, with the aim of funding public infrastructure required as a result of their developments. The details of capital works program projects funded by contributions plans were tabled at the Central Coast Council meeting on September 14. The report stated that the Minister of Planning and Public Spaces allowed the pooling of contributions across all of Council’s contributions plans from May 18. He required a four-year plan to be submitted to the Department

of Planning Infrastructure and Environment. Council staff submitted a plan with a total project expenditure of $93.59 million of which $79.62 million would come from developer contributions and $13.97 million from other sources. Despite the provision for pooling, the plan allocated no pooled funds to the Peninsula. The Peninsula has around 11.7 per cent of the Council’s population, but was allocated 9.4 per cent of the allocated funds. A total of $1.923 million was allocated for projects this financial year, with $550,000 going towards the Rogers Park redevelopment, $380,000 towards improvements at James Brown Oval and $315,000 altogether for playground upgrades at Australia Ave, Ryans

Rd and Brickwharf Rd. Dune stabalisation has been allocated $200,000 and beach access a further $100,000. “Sporting facility redevelopment” at Umina Oval has been allocated $160,000 this financial year towards a total project cost of $2.177 million. Other projects to receive contribution plan funding include reserve upgrades for the Woy Woy Waterfront Redevelopment, and at Mt Ettalong and other reserves. The plan earmarked $3.368 million for projects next financial year. This included $916,000 for “reserve upgrades” at the Woy Woy Waterfront Redevelopment, $690,000 for “sporting facility redevelopment” at Umina Oval, and $300,000 at each of Rogers Park and for further “reserve

upgrades” at Woy Woy Waterfront or at Lions Park. Amounts of $200,000 or more were allocated to upgrades at McEvoy Oval and Mt Ettalong reserve and for dune stabilisation. An amount of $100,000 was allocated for beach access and $80,000 for the Blackwall boat ramp. An upgrade to Blackwall Mountain reserve was allocated $50,000, of a total project cost of $435,000, and $100,000 was allocated to other reserve upgrades. In the financial year 2022-23, the plan allocated $1.48 million to Peninsula projects. The largest amount was $570,000 for the Blackwall boat ramp upgrade. The Umina oval sporting facility redevelopment was allocated

$250,000, dune stabilisation $200,000, while upgrades to the reserves at Mt Ettalong and Blackwall Mountain were given $175,000 and $130,000 respectively. Other projects including beach access, observation decks and interpretive signage received a total of $155,000. In the fourth year, 2023-24, only $601,000 has been allocated from contribution plans to projects on the Peninsula. The Blackwall Mountain reserve upgrade was allocated $255,000, dune stabilisation $183,000 and observation decks $100,000. A total of $62,000 was allocated to beach access upgrades and to interpretive signage. SOURCE: Central Coast Council agenda 4.1, 14 Sep 2020

THIS ISSUE contains 54 articles - Read more news items for this issue at www.peninsulanews.info Office: Level 2, 86-88 Mann St, Gosford - Phone: 4325 7369 - Mail: PO Box 1056, Gosford 2250 - E-mail: editorial@centralcoastnews.net - Website: www.coastcommunitynews.com.au


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Peninsula News 503 by Mark Snell, Peninsula News editor - Issuu