Time to revisit and revise plan

The Ettalong Beach Reserve Plan of Management, on page 32, states that "the protection of the dunes and vegetation are the foremost concerns of the Department of Land and Water Conservation and Gosford City Council".

Yet it proceeds to recommend the provision of viewing platforms and increased public access in the Picnic Parade-Beach St section.

This section contains the best natural vegetation and mature trees in the whole of the foreshore area covered by the plan and has six access pathways to the beach.

It is impossible for the Foreshore Plan to provide for viewing platforms and increased public access without the removal of some long-established dune vegetation and mature trees.

Such action cannot be reconciled with the priority noted above and Gosford Council will create a dangerous precedent if it is seen to support such action.

As the terms of reference given to the consultants who prepared the Foreshore Plan required them to provide for "the arrival of the new Fast Ferry", the withdrawal of the State Government grant for the funding of the terminal-jetty fundamentally impacts their recommendations.

It is now appropriate for the new Gosford Council to revisit and revise the Foreshore Plan to include wider community input.

Michael Gillian, Ettalong Beach