Resident Ian Weekley is on a one-man campaign to get action on crumbling infrastructure on the Peninsula, and at the top of his list is a collapsing storm water drain at the end of Rickard St, Umina Beach, which he says is threatening to see the adjacent footpath collapse.
Weekley met with Central Coast Council Administrator, Rik Hart, on site in December to point out the dangerous situation but says no action has been taken since.
“The defective design of the stormwater outlet is seriously eroding the sand dune and encroaching on the footpath,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the subsurface underneath the footpath is now eroded.
“The footpath tarred surface is crumbling and falling into the dune.”
Weekley said he feared if the situation is not addressed urgently, the entire footpath is at risk of collapse with pedestrians at high risk of injury.
“You can see the cracks appearing more and more on this section of the path as the drain continues to erode underneath,” he said.
“There is now a gap of some 25-30 cm and increasing between the fence line skirting and the drop away.”
Weekley said only an inspection underneath the remaining footpath surface would establish how far the undercutting has proceeded.
The stormwater drain is just one example of failing infrastructure on the Peninsula, he said, citing major potholes and crumbling road surfaces on feeder roads to The Esplanade and on the access road to the Ocean Beach Holiday Resort as prime examples.
He said urgent infrastructure repairs were left unattended as Council continued to spend money on “lifestyle” projects, services and activities which are of questionable benefit to the majority of the community.
“Despite being under administration because of failure to manage finances, Council continues to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on (such) projects,” he said.
“A primary example of this mismanagement occurred in the Umina Beach area in 2021 (when) Council obtained and spent NSW grant money, as well as ratepayer money, on painting motifs on the road, installing planter boxes and reducing the speed limit to create a ‘shared zone’ along the Esplanade.”
Weekley said the project provided “questionable improvement to pedestrian safety and unwarranted and unwanted additional amenity in the Esplanade”.
“This raises question of who is deciding the priorities for doing things in the LGA, who authorises the spending, who manages the money and who is holding the Council to account for its decisions and actions?” he said.
“Council staff continue to spend our money on their preferred activities while the potholes in the roads, the erosion of the sand dunes, the weeds and litter choking the roadsides, lanes and vacant lands and the standard of parkland areas remain in bad states of repair and maintenance.”
He said providing, repairing and maintaining basic, priority infrastructure, facilities and services that benefit the majority of the community the majority of the time should be Council’s priority.
“We need councillors elected by the people so that the Council staff can be held to account for their performance in doing the job of serving this community, according to the community’s wishes and priorities,” he said.
A spokesperson for Central Coast Council said temporary maintenance repairs were carried out at the stormwater drain as Council continues to develop a longer term solution .
“Further investigations and recent onsite visits have revealed that further works are required,” the spokesperson said.
“Council is currently in the process of determining these works which will be carried out once known.”
The spokesperson said Council staff are continuing to routinely inspect the road network across the region with repairs allocated on a priority risk basis.
“Works undertaken at The Esplanade, Umina Beach, were funded by the NSW Government under the Streets as Shared Spaces program,” the spokesperson said.
“The … program provides one-off grant funding to support local councils to test and pilot new and innovative ideas for streets as safe, shared public spaces.
“The grant monies and associated agreements set out how the money can be used and what it can be spent on.
“There was no scope to do works outside of The Esplanade for this grant funded project associated with any drainage upgrade.”
Council’s Operational Plan, including the 2022/23 Delivery Program is currently on exhibition and residents are encouraged to review the documents and provide their feedback to Council on the projects identified, including road works on the Peninsula.
Terry Collins
