Glad residents’ issues were raised in Oceanway article

CONGRATULATIONS to Paul Weston for his article (14 September 2018) on the Bilinga to Tugun Oceanway.

He has provided a fair summary of the, at times, controversial circumstances surrounding this project.

His story acknowledges the point that beachfront residents had been encouraged by Council to ‘fence and maintain’ the area between their properties and the boulder protection walls built at the residents’ costs.

Council, in fact, also provided fencing to prevent public access to the area.

It was this fencing that later led to protesters, encouraged and led by the Friends of Currumbin (FOC), to hold a number of ‘protest marches’ along the oceanfront while demonising ‘rich, land-grabbing’ local residents.

In the process, the protesters destroyed both private and public property.

When some residents had the audacity to seek a legal solution to the issue by attempting to purchase the public land in question, they were again subjected to ridicule and intimidation.

The land purchase option was rejected and the path was fully opened for public access.

Council’s later decision to convert this grassed pathway to an extension of the concrete Oceanway again ignores concerns raised by residents.

In particular, as Weston highlighted, the obligation placed on residents to continue to maintain the structural integrity of the boulder walls over which much of the Oceanway will pass.

I raised this as a potential issue with Council some years ago.

The response was that ‘their solicitor’ had affirmed that the liability for any failure of the boulder wall would stay with the property owners.

As stated in the article, just how the homeowners will be able to inspect the wall and provide maintenance if anything goes wrong appears to be washed aside, as would have been the area the Oceanway is to occupy if the residents had not paid for the protection of the oceanfront in the first place.