Lake set to be filled in

Protesters in last-ditch bid to stop work

PROTESTERS will spend the next few days staking out Black Swan Lake after it was announced work to start filling it in will begin this week.

A small group of community members were at the lake yesterday to ensure bulldozers did not start work at the controversial water body.

The Gold Coast City Council in November last year gave permission for the Gold Coast Turf Club to fill in the lake in order to build an overflow car park. Community groups have been fighting to have the lake saved since the decision as made.

Wildlife Queensland Gold Coast branch president Sally Spain said members of the group would be at the lake for the next few days to ensure action was not taken.

“There will be people who think if this lake goes what will be next,” she said.

The group was at the lake yesterday with workers leaving the site early in the day. Ms Spain said the lake was an important nesting ground for birds such as black swans.

However, the council has long contended the lake is toxic and likely to harm wildlife in the area.

The lake was formed in the 1970s after the area was used as a “borrow pit” for work nearby.

The lake will be drained by a “silt screen push-back process” which means water will not be pumped out but rather through a gradual process to allow evaporation to take place.

Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said the club had spent $150,000 on flora and fauna studies to ensure the plan was environmentally sound.

“The Gold Coast Turf Club respects the expert environmental findings and also council’s decision to green-light excavation works which will see this swamp transformed into much-needed horse training amenities with picking areas and potential day yards for horse training teams,” he said.

“It will ultimately become an equine green space. It may also provide an additional revenue stream for the Gold Coast Show and other major events at the Gold Coast Turf Club by becoming an overflow carparking facility.”

Councillor Peter Young, who has been against the filling of the lake, said he was still hoping to negotiate with the turf club to retain the lake.