The long-discussed plan to build a boardwalk connecting Ocean Shores directly to the beach is back on the table, after Byron Shire councillors voted to revive the idea as part of their place plan for the Shire’s north.
For decades, locals in Ocean Shores have lamented the lack of a pedestrian path connecting the main residential areas of their suburb to the shopping centre and on to New Brighton Beach.
Many have argued that such a path should be built, including a wooden boardwalk cutting through the Marshalls Creek Reserve down to the beach.
But the plan has repeatedly sunk into the mire because of the environmental protections covering the Reserve, much of which is a designated Habitat Protection Zone (HPZ).
This roadblock emerged again during the recent development of the Draft Place Plan for New Brighton, South Golden Beach and Ocean Shores – a document which sets the vision for this part of the Shire over the next 20 years.
With NSW National Parks indicating that the boardwalk was ‘inconsistent’ with its plans, and would impact threatened ecological communities and threatened species, Council staff once again kicked it to the kerb.
Vocal calls
But following vocal calls of objection from a significant section of the community, councillors voted unanimously to put the idea back on the table at last week’s meeting.
They voted to ‘further investigate the viability, including assessment of environmental impacts, of the Marshalls Creek Boardwalk’.
Speaking in favour during the public access section of the meeting, former running mate of Cr Jack Dods, David Michie, said that while the environmental protections were an impediment to the boardwalk, NPWS’s plans ‘can, and do change’.
‘Marshalls Creek is a nature reserve, and it is adjacent to a marine park, but that doesn’t mean boardwalks are ruled out in these situations’.
In addition to putting the Marshalls Creek boardwalk back into the draft place plan, Council will also investigate the establishment of a new mixed-use neighbourhood precinct to service the needs of west Ocean Shores, near the Balemo Drive/Orana Road entrance when Council’s Business and Industrial Land Strategy is next reviewed.
Meanwhile, concerns around the place plan were raised by the South Golden Beach Community Association.
Association members Angela Dunlop and Kathy Norley told councillors that the place plan’s vision amounted to little more than ‘maintenance’ and needed to be taken back to square one.
Ms Dunlop said that the pedestrian safety and access measures in the draft place plan were considerably less than what had already been promised in Council’s Pedestrian Access and Mobility Plan (PAMP).
‘The 26 proposed works in the PAMP have already been identified, prioritised, and costed,’ Ms Dunlop said.
‘The draft place plan has reduced these to a mere five actions to be completed over 20 years [instead of a much shorter timeframe]’.
But this request appeared to fall on deaf ears, with councillors making no changes to the draft place plan’s recommendations in relation to South Golden Beach.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
