A stormwater drainpipe leading from North Coast Holiday Park onto Clarkes Beach in Byron Bay has become exposed following high tides on Xmas eve.
But Byron Shire Council can do nothing about it because responsibility for the drain lies with park management, according to the council’s infrastructure services director Phil Holloway.
‘The holiday park at Clarkes Beach is not a council asset,’ Mr Holloway told Echonetdaily.
‘It belongs to the Crown. Management of stormwater run-off from the holiday park is… therefore the Crown’s responsibility.
He said that during 2016 council staff had been ‘working collaboratively with the park’s managers to improve stormwater management through and off the site.’
‘But this work has not considered the recent erosion as it has only recently occurred,’ he added.
The North Coast Holiday Park Trust has fixed the stairs that provide the park guests with access to the beach. They have surrounded the exposed drainpipe in orange mesh but do not have a current solution to the exposure of the stormwater pipe.
The trust’s regional manager Jennifer Scott said that they had not yet informed council of the erosion issue but are planning to work with council and the local dune care group to look at long-term solutions.
‘Although the stairs have now been repaired this mesh will remain in place until further notice due to beach erosion on site,’ concluded Ms Scott.
That pipe has been exposed for ages… I guess now with this recent erosion it has become a danger to people and a solution that is not so unsightly has to be found asap.