In the April 20 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, one of our leading scientists Professor Matt King, warns that the Inter-Governmental Panel on climate change stated that “of the various future sea-level scenarios, the estimate of the upper limit – a 1.1 metre rise by 2100 – was actually not the worst case.
“That is, the $226 billion value of Australian roads, rail, commercial buildings and homes spread over the coastal zone that may be underwater regularly by 2100 could be an underestimate. “And they did not know by how much.” Fair warning that the Central Coast Highway traversing Gosford waterfront will probably be submerged within the next 85 years, a possibility that no-one could doubt after witnessing our most recent extreme weather event.
And so, in the cold light of day, it becomes obvious that the grand idea of “taking Gosford to the waterfront”, has all been a disastrous waste of time and money, and our planners should now be concentrating on developing the foreshore as a recreational park, contoured to best protect existing infrastructure from storms and future sea level rise.
The proposed Performing Arts Centre must be relocated. Other options are readily available, with the advantage of providing under cover parking for cars and bus loading. Surely common sense would dictate that a multimillion project such as this should remain viable for at least a couple of hundred years.
Email, 30 Apr 2015
Tom Rodwell, Gosford