Ballina’s last council meeting was short and sweet, with no motions from councillors for the first time in memory. There were some important decisions made though.
Following a deputation from the irrepressible Robyn Hargrave, council greenlit a new historical plaque recognising 100 years of Lennox Head Village, and there was an arm wrestle about Newrybar, which will hopefully improve things for residents and visitors, if not quite in the way that local business people were hoping.
The Finance and Facilities Committee’s recommendations were adopted, with funding approved for items including:
- new public toilets for Lennox Head Surf Club ($146,000).
- implementation of Lake Ainsworth Coastal Management Plan after flood delays ($938,000).
- new playgrounds and open spaces for Ocean Breeze Reserve ($181,000), Montwood Park ($180,000) and Lakefield Park ($55,000).
- completion of Lennox Village Vision ($850,000).
- new Lennox Head Rural Fire Shed ($610,000 – the old shed will become a new carpark to help with Lennox’s parking problem.
- green light for Sharpes Beach Masterplan ($1,300,000).
- new footpath for Montwood Drive ($210,000).
- road widening to improve safety along Ross Lane ($2,227,000) and planning for flood mitigation of Ross Lane, pending further studies.
- upgrading of Lennox Head Sewage Treatment Plant ($1,000,000).
- work beginning on Ballina Pump Track, as part of Kingsford Smith Park Masterplan ($684,000).
- funding for Cemetery Road access to Rous School.
Angels Beach access
One major item for discussion at both Ballina Council’s general meeting and the preceding finance/facilities meeting was the parlous state of the Angels Beach disabled access ramp.
Community representative David Fuller made a passionate submission to both meetings regarding the urgent need for Ballina Council to step in and maintain the structure.
Mr Fuller said the structure’s life could be extended for forty years with the replacement of rusted bolts and screws with stainless steel fixings, along with some of the handrails and decking.
He reminded councillors that after the floods, the disabled access ramp was the only access to the beach that had not been blocked or washed away, and was an important piece of infrastructure for the whole community, not only disabled people.
Confirming this, The Echo spoke yesterday to some locals who were using the ramp on a typically busy weekday afternoon.
Young mother Isabel Woods said, ‘It’s just so useful as a local resident to have some way you can access the beach with a pram, or a kid on a bike, and actually be able to get down easily, because in a lot of the places there’s steps or a sandy path.’
Ms Woods said she used the path on most days, and said there were many other people using it for access, including people riding bikes to the beach with their children.
She said she’d noticed the timber structure degrading. ‘Yes you’ve got to watch out for the holes and rusty screws. It would be great if they fixed it up a bit!’
Ballina Council voted unanimously to allocate $70,000 in maintenance and contingency funding for the Angels Beach access ramp, including a plan to coordinate with the local community group for a cost effective long term resolution.
Other decisions
Also on the issue of equal access, Ballina Council agreed unanimously to endorse the Draft Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2023-2026 to go on public exhibition for at least 42 days, to be adopted if no submissions are received.
They also agreed to exhibit the draft Workforce Management plan 2023-2027, which will include a report on Ballina Council’s gender pay gap, with additional work to be done on balancing the percentage of women on council’s workforce.
In a discussion about council investments, Cr Simon Chate pointed out that there were now $70 million invested with fossil fuel aligned institutions, representing 63% of council-managed finances.
Choosing to focus on the glass less than half full, Cr Rod Bruem said this meant nearly 40% of council’s money was in non-fossil fuel investments, arguing that Ballina was one of the leading local government institutions in Australia in this regard.
Airport privatisation?
Cr Bruem also spoke about the future of Ballina Byron Gateway Airport, which is owned by Ballina Council, noting that the growth of the facility meant that ‘tens of millions of dollars’ would need to be found to maintain the facility into the future.
‘That would be a major challenge for us,’ he said. ‘We will get a report that will include looking at the possibility of testing the market for a long term lease of the airport as one option.’ He said the alternative would be that council would have to look at other ways to raise the money to continue to own and operate the airport.
Cr Bruem described the issue as ‘possibly be one of the biggest decisions as councillors we’re going to make. In the near future, we have to be able to weigh up both sides fairly, and in seeking this evaluation of essentially the long term lease, or privatisation if you like of the airport. That’s what it amounts to.’
According to the latest review of Ballina’s Delivery Program and Operational Plan, airport passengers numbers have steadily grown from 533,000 in 2018-19 to 650,272 in the last year, apart from a blip for COVID, now bringing in over $7 million per year.
The meeting closed with a discussion about Mayor Sharon Cadwallader’s recent trip to Perth to attend the Australian Coastal Councils Conference as Chair, with a focus on Australian coastal hazards. Details of that event are available here. Cr Cadwallader was accompanied in WA by Crs Bruem and Cr Eva Ramsey, although no written reports were presented.
Councillors Jeff Johnson and Phil Meehan were absent from the April meeting.
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