MACLEAY EROSION ISSUE A DEPARTMENT AND COUNCIL DILEMMA!
Redland City Council has come under fire for lack of action in relation to the foreshore embankment erosion on the Macleay Island waterfront.
The comments were made in ‘personal correspondence’ to a party involved with the erosion matter.
A senior environment officer confirmed that Redland City Council had proposed that any repair and protective work on the site would not go ahead until ‘next financial year’.
In a pointed statement to a person involved in the erosion process, the senior officer declared: “The department feels that this is not an acceptable timeframe and is working to bring this timeframe forward.”
However, at a later time The Department of Environment and Science released an official statement stating it has been liaising with Redland City Council on a regular basis to ensure that Council implements appropriate measures to protect the foreshore and property adjacent to the barge ramp on Macleay Island.
Council is currently working on the design and implementation of these measures to ensure an appropriate and sustainable outcome is achieved.
The seriousness of the erosion adjacent to the Macleay Island barge ramp has been supported via a Cultural Heritage Risk Assessment.
It states:“The CHRA completed for the Macleay Island, Russell Terrace foreshore unallocated state land (USL), identified the foreshore as a high-risk for occurrence of indigenous cultural heritage values.
“Based on the completed CHRA, internal legal advice recommended that a consultant archaeologist be engaged to deliver a site survey and report investigating the site’s cultural heritage values (Indigenous and European). The consultant archaeologist completed the on-ground site survey on the 16th February 2023.
A vessel wash study has also been carried out, but has not been released publicly.
The erosion site is under extreme pressure with another major land slide likely to occur at any time, that could see a set of stairs plummet to the waters below due to considerable embankment erosion.
Concerned landholder involved, Jim Annan, has pleaded to council: “How much longer will Council sit back studying water bus and barge wave wash in the knowledge that these factors are the cause of this erosion; and the longer it continues unabated, the greater the loss to the heritage land - land that Council wants to protect! (See editorial this edition)
• The next section likely to give way!