The traffic flow around Terrigal Beach has become a sluggish crawl over recent years but has become far worse since major residential developments have taken place.
The question begs to be asked, did Council give traffic congestion any serious consideration before approving these developments? Terrigal Beach is a beautiful public beach, but if the developers have their way, the traffic will be so restrictive, that the area will become the preserve of the wealthy residents in the new developments, and entry will be prohibitive for neighbouring residents and the general public. The proposed traffic plan ensures this will occur and does nothing to facilitate access by the public.
I urge anyone who has an interest to see the plan on the Council’s website, yourvoiceourcoast or in Coast Community News Edition 176, February 15. One can be suspicious that the developer’s plan was always to restrict and deter public access. Surely the over development of this beautiful but small area was not seriously considered, or was it just negligent? Already a little harbour, locked in by land and sea, there are few ways to preserve access to the area for ordinary people. Allowing these massive developments guaranteed that the traffic would stall. It seems that now that we have these developments, and the future great increase in residents, all that can be done is to persist with the current traffic flow and for Council to fund shuttle buses from Erina and Wamberal every half hour. The cost for these should partly be borne by levies on the new residents, who need to realise that this area does belong to the public and should not be locked off from them.
Email, Feb 23 Helen Griffiths, Wamberal