Ballina to appeal to premier for ocean pool funds

Darren Coyne

A Ballina Shire Council delegation aims to meet with Premier Mike Baird and Crown Lands Minister Niall Blair in coming weeks to lobby for funds to build an ocean pool.

With the recent failures of shark netting at Lennox Head and Lighthouse Beach at Ballina, the council wants the state government to include the ocean pool project in its $17 million shark mitigation strategy.

Cr Jeff Johnson had lodged a notice of motion for yesterday’s council meeting calling for the ocean pool project to be supported, after the previous council decided to reject a request for $15,000 for further studies into the proposal.

At the time Cr Johnson described the decision as politically motivated.

But the politics fell his way yesterday when his new motion was supported unanimously, no doubt aided by the very real concerns that the latest shark attack would have a negative impact on tourism.

His motion yesterday was accompanied by letters of support from Kevin Cameron, the manager for Far North Coast Department of Primary Industries – Lands.

Mr Cameron wrote that the Department supported ‘investigations in the feasibility of an ocean pool within the Ballina Coastal Reserve.

Ballina Lighthouse and Lismore Surf Life Saving Club president Craig Nolan also wrote in support of the concept, saying ‘it would be a wonderful addition to the facilities already offered to our club members’.

‘It will also add to the public’s enjoyment of both Shelly Beach and Lighthouse Beach,’ he said.

Other letters of support were received from the director of the Marine Ecology Research Centre at Southern Cross University, Professor Peter Harrison, and Robert Brander, an Associate Professor and coastal geomorphologist at the University of New South Wales.

Professor Brander said the proposed Shelley Beach site for the ocean pool was ‘in no way detrimental to any existing physical processes involving breaking waves, alongshore water movement and currents and the transport of sediments’.

‘In my opinion, the pool will not lead to any negative environmental impacts and the location is eminently suitable in this regard,’ he said.

‘I also believe that the pool will provide a valuable and easily accessible community amenity and attraction and will provide a safe swimming location compared to the potentially unsafe swimming conditions at present with varying degrees of rock exposure changing almost daily.’

Cr Johnson, who was elected deputy mayor at yesterday’s meeting, said the delegation to meet the premier would include Mayor David Wright, himself, the chief engineer John Truman and general manager Paul Hickey.

‘We will be hoping to get some funding at least for the planning report, but also to identify a pathway towards the actual construction of the pool,’ he told Echonetdaily.