Second Stage Cleanup Complete

Landcom have now completed the second stage cleanup of the beach. This cleanup was very thorough, using special equipment with finer sieves, and extending over eight days.

The result is very impressive with a lot more bricks, brick fragments, rusty metal, glass and earthenware removed. The General Manager of Randwick City Council, Mr. Ray Brownlee has now inspected the beach following the cleanup. All those in the inspection party agreed that the cleanup had achieved as much as was reasonably possible.

Expect transfer of management of the beach (dedication) from Landcom to Randwick Council within the next three months.

The beach is now vastly cleaner than it was. However beach users should exercise caution in the immediate area where the creek is flowing across the beach, especially after rain, as the creek's channel through the sand may expose additional small, sharp pieces of metal. Council cleaning staff and volunteers will inspect the creek area frequently in order to remove any metal they find.

Thank you Landcom for committing the considerable resources required to restore this badly polluted section of beach to its natural state.

Site Inspection / Thanks to All Involved

The General Manager of Randwick Council, Mr. Ray Bownlee has now inspected the beach following the cleanup. He has agreed that the results are impressive and very pleasing, but acknowledges that further work is required using machinery with a finer sieve to remove small brick pieces, glass and most importantly, small, sharp-pointed pieces of metal. Further work will be subject to negotiation between Randwick Council and Landcom.

At this point it is appropriate to acknowledge the following people by whom I was most positively supported throughout and who I list in chronological order of my involvement with them:

* Lynda Newnham, Charles Abela and Bob Brooks (La Perouse Precinct Committee)

* Alderman Robert Belleli (Liberal Alderman, Randwick City Council, South Ward)

* Ray Brownlee (General Manager, Randwick City Council)

* David Allison (Greens candidate, Randwick City Council, South Ward)

* Bob Burgess (resident at Prince Henry)

* doubtless a number of other people who sent emails etc.

We should also recognise that Landcom have acted in good faith and agreed to fund and perform the work, so thanks are due to Mr Sean O'Toole (General Manager, Landcom) and his staff and contractors who have done such a professional job.

A clean beach for next summer and every summer thereafter - this is great news!

Peter Fagan

The Bricks Have Gone!

The cleanup started in the week commencing 20 July and the main deposit and south deposit have been cleared, with over 900 tonnes of bricks, concrete and steel removed. The work was done very professionally and the results so far are impressive and very pleasing.

I will publish acknowledgement of the various people and organisations who helped to make this happen shortly.

Randwick Council staff have inspected the site and I will provide an update soon.

Good News!

I have been informed that Landcom are in the process of investigating the best methodology to remove the bricks from the beach.

They are discussing various options with Council, contractors, Aboriginal Land Council and Heritage authorities. The safety of and inconvenience to the public must also be considered.

A final method of removal has not yet been decided upon. However removal of the bricks appears to be imminent, which is great news.

Deadline Approaches - will Landcom Do the Right Thing?

With increasing frequency, visitors to Little Bay Beach are asking what is going to be done about the bricks. Apart from anything else, the beach was busier than ever on the hot days over Christmas and January, and the space occupied by the bricks is needed for visitors to swim and lie on the sand in safety.

Now that the Community Centre (immediately to the south of the A-frame Nurses Memorial Chapel) is nearly complete, the date for Landcom's handover of Little Bay Beach to Randwick City Council is fast approaching. If Landcom intend to meet Randwick Council's requirement that the bricks be removed before the handover, they are running out of time.

If you would like to help us put pressure on Landcom to do the right thing, please send an email or letter, or call James Adcock at Landcom - JAdcock at landcom dot nsw dot gov dot au - PO Box 237 Parramatta 2124 - (02) 9841 8600.