The vexed issue of 4 Wheel Drive (4WD) access at Airforce Beach, Evans Head, is now open for public comment, closing 30 November.
According to its website, Richmond Valley Council is currently ‘seeking input from community, government agencies, businesses and community organisations to help guide future beach access management decisions’.
Council provides a link to its survey listing three options:
- Continue current arrangements with enhanced regulatory control. This option would maintain current 4WD access to the Main Beach with enhancement of enforcement by Council, National Parks and Police and promotion of user awareness.
- Introduce access restrictions via a permit system which would restrict access at certain times with potential for curfew periods. According to Council this option would “control access to reduce environmental impact and improve safety” but would require “administrative resources” and a “cost and adjustment period for users”.
- Remove vehicle access. This option would “prohibit vehicles from accessing the beach (except for authorised users)” and provide “environmental benefits” and what are described as “enhanced non-vehicular uses”.
Council’s survey provides space for additional comments, limited to 500 characters.
This survey arose as a result of a successful Notice of Motion (10.1) at its October meeting from Evans Head Crs Lyndall Murray and Robert Hayes regarding 4WD access to Airforce Beach.
Managing risks
The motion asked that RVC put in place an appropriate strategy to manage risks associated with the current arrangements for beach access, considering that animals have been killed, there have been many community complaints about safety, and locals living at Airforce Beach are being disturbed by 4WDs at all hours of the day and night.
The motion followed an earlier Resolution of a Closed Meeting of Council in August, where Council had accepted a ‘tender from Hannigan Civil Pty Ltd at $355,417.00 (exclusive of GST) for an Airforce Beach Car Park and Access Improvements Project’.
Critics have noted that the wider community and agencies responsible for compliance matters at the beach had not been consulted about plans for ‘hardening off’ the hind dune area with asphalt and concrete aprons to accommodate 4WDs.
Spokesperson for Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development Inc. (EHRSDI), Dr Richard Gates, said today that community and agency input into management of the beach was long overdue.
‘Ballina Shire Council took action in March 2001 to close the South Ballina portion of the beach which runs from Boundary Creek to Ballina. Council recently reconfirmed its decision for beach closure with no plans to revisit that commitment.’
Dr Gates went on to say, ‘Beach closure is a big issue around Australia. Recent stories about 4WD abuse of the beach and adjacent Broadwater National Park have attracted a lot of interest with more than 60,000 hits on our site. A story and survey from mainstream media also showed a majority against 4WDs.
‘One of the frequently stated reasons for not closing the beach is that it will have an economic impact on the local business community,’ he said. ‘However, there’s no evidence that this is the case. In fact, it can just as easily be argued closure may benefit business as safe beaches are magnets for visitors who might otherwise stay away.’
Major safety and envronmental issues
‘The view of EHRSDI is that there are major safety and environmental issues associated with keeping the beach open,’ said Dr Gates.
‘The beach is being trashed environmentally with so much 4WD traffic, and there is a major complex risk problem with the human, vehicle and animal mix not being managed. It begs the question, what will Council tells the Coroner’s Court and its insurers should, god forbid, something happen?’
Evans Head Residents for Sustainable Development Inc. notes that Richmond Valley Council has an obligation to manage risk.
While it has a Risk Management Policy (1.1.12), that Policy is 20 years old. The AS/NZS 4360 standard on which the policy is based has been superseded by the internationally-aligned ISO 31000:2009 standard, released in 2009.
They say there is more recent material which puts accountability on senior management and not just the organization. The organisation suggests it is abundantly clear that current risk is not being managed by Richmond Valley Council.
Their statement closes by saying, ‘The beach must be closed to 4WDs. Resources for “hardening off” of the Airforce Beach access area for 4WD should be put to more appropriate uses for coastal management.
‘We encourage everyone to fill out the council survey and say NO to 4WDs.’
The RVC survey can be found online here.
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