 |
| South Ballina Beach. Photo Ballina Beach Village in Echo NetDaily, 27 November 2018 |
The Northern Star, 25 May 2019, p.9:
Poor behaviour from some
4WD users have attracted the ire of Ballina Shire Council once again.
Councillor Sharon
Cadwallader brought a motion before Thursday’s general meeting to further
consult on what could be done to address the issue of some 4WDers putting
wildlife and the dunes at risk on South Ballina and Seven Mile Beaches.
Richard Gates, who spoke
to the council in support of the motion, said bad 4WD behaviour was causing
“significant damage to the beach and its ecology”, evident in declining pied
oystercatcher and pippie numbers. Cr Cadwallader welcomed extra patrols planned
for both beaches next financial year, but said that wasn’t enough and suggested
a permit system be added to South Ballina Beach, similar to the permit for
Seven Mile Beach.
Councillors agreed the
matter was complex in that the National Parks and Wildlife Service had care of
South Ballina’s beach, and that a co-ordinated approach would be needed with
the Richmond Valley Council to cover the entire beach to Evans Head.
“There’s got to be a
concerted effort,” Cr Cadwallader said.
“We’re not just going to
sit by and watch this beautiful beach of ours become desecrated.”
She showed her fellow
councillors photos, taken on the weekend, of the southern beach trashed with
rubbish including dumped tents and camping chairs.
Other images showed the
dunes at Seven Mile Beach riddled with tyre marks.
Cr Ben Smith said the
State Government was “very much aware” of the dilemma and pointed out it
“didn’t really get much traction” in the lead up to the March state election,
despite noise from the council.
Many councillors saw the
need for action and Cr Cadwallader’s motion was carried unanimously.
No comments:
Post a Comment