No room at Circular Quay

It is no surprise to be reading about another 12 months delay for Fast Ships Pty Ltd in the Peninsula News.

What possible reason exists, apart from continuing what many ratepayers perceive to be an unhealthy relationship with developers having the upper hand.

Council remains supportive of locking up our foreshore reserves for the benefit of a few.

Certainly I have in the past and do again raise the fact that the proposed commuter service marketed in many newspapers and other media by Fast Ships Pty Ltd between Ettalong and Circular Quay is perceived as misleading readers and possibly investors from the first time this misinformation was published.

Documents available for perusal reveal the service is actually identified as "Ettalong to Sydney", confirmed for me by a Gosford Council officer today.

General enquires I have made in the past to entities controlling commercial access to berths within Sydney Harbour, and that I make again today, do not reveal the existence of an assured capacity to provide a commuter service of say 10 round trips between Ettalong and Circular Quay.

Access to berths within Circular Quay are in high demand, while any overflow of interest in commercial arrangements which can't be accommodated generally flows on to the King St Wharf and elsewhere.

Wherever these other berths are, they are certainly not in the central hub of activity which is internationally-known, and nor can they be marketed to attract investors, as can the famous Circular Quay!

Edward James Umina