Lamont criticises emergency meeting process

Central Coast Councillor Corinne Lamont has strongly criticised the process and substance behind the last-minute motion at the May 6 Extraordinary Council Meeting, which called for an “emergency declaration” at Central Coast beaches.

Lamont said the Notice of Motion (NoM) had not been provided to Labor and Independent councillors until 3.20pm for a meeting starting at 4pm, and only after she asked the CEO to intervene.

“Seven councillors were expected to vote on a motion they’d just seen; that’s not transparency, it’s political theatre,” she said.

She also raised concerns with the CEO about rumours that beachfront property owners had pre-arranged cranes and equipment before the meeting, suggesting a pre-determined outcome.

Lamont opposed the original proposal which called for unrestricted access to public beaches and an amnesty for unregulated private works.

“That version would have exposed the Council to serious legal liability and caused unacceptable environmental harm; it was legally and ethically indefensible,” she said.

While the final motion was “watered down”, Lamont said she voted against it, calling it “legally reckless, environmentally risky, and strategically short-sighted”.

“This isn’t about lacking compassion for affected residents; it’s about not shifting risk to the 350,000 people who live on the Central Coast,” she said.

“Council cannot declare a state of emergency; that power rests with the Premier and relevant emergency agencies, we cannot invent a shortcut.”

Lamont said the real issue was not the recent storms, but years of coastal mismanagement.

She also noted the contradiction of some beachfront voices demanding sand and rocks this week, while having opposed her motion just last week to prioritise offshore sand nourishment.

The real emergency, she said, is Council’s failure to deliver legally required Coastal Management Programs (CMPs).

The Emergency Meeting followed agitation for some sort of action from local MPs and resident groups in recent weeks.

Member for The Entrance David Mehan approached Council on April 9 to provide approval for residents at The Entrance North to undertake their own coastal protection works on their land, provided such works are designed and certified by a coastal engineer.

He said such works could be allowed under s124 of the Local Government Act, which had been done by Northern Beaches Council, but his request was declined on April 23.

On May 2 he asked the Local Emergency Management Committee to allow the works, but this was also declined verbally on May 3.

Mehan was told that although Council has the power to authorise works under s124, the preferred pathway is via the Coastal Management Act (CM Act).

“For The Entrance North, enacting the CM Act pathway is expensive and timely due to the absence of a Coastal Management Plan,” Mehan said.

“Instead, residents need to go through the Regional Planning Panel process.

“Residents have long been asking for permission to undertake costal protection works on their properties at their own expense.

“Council should allow the authorisation of s124; I believe its high time that this was granted.”

The Wamberal Protection Association had echoed Mehan’s call for residents to be allowed to undertake emergency works to protect their homes from further slippage and expressed disappointment that Council had been “unable to resolve the situation where a Development Application is require to undertake emergency works to protect beachgoers and their homes from further coastal slippage”.

President Chris Rogers called on the Premier to take urgent action.

“During the recent election, Premier Minns came to our electorate and said he was going to get involved in finding a solution,” Rogers said.

“The time has come for him to do just that.

“We are calling on Premier Minns to take charge of this situation with residents facing the prospect of seeing their homes lost as they wait for next week’s Council meeting to know whether they can protect their homes and the surrounding community.

“Despite the efforts of some councillors to resolve this, residents along the coast are still in limbo and required to lodge a DA if they need to undertake emergency works to shore up the coast.”

Rogers said an expert geotechnical assessment on the precarious situation at Wamberal warned that land slippages posed a risk to public safety, with the potential for sandstone boulders, concrete and sharp objects to fall onto the beach below.

“We are pleading for the Premier to take charge of the situation to protect our coast,” he said.

State Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Adam Crouch had also recently called for support from the State Government following significant recent erosion events.

“It is unbelievable that assistance from the Labor Government has not been forthcoming, with none of the local Labor members interested or willing to get involved to support Central Coast Council in managing this issue,” Crouch said.

“Local beaches have been closed, with some littered with debris and landslips at numerous beach locations, and yet, no Labor members have picked up the phone to their own government and demand the support we need.”

Terry Collins