What happened at the April 2021 Randwick Council meeting

Published Date
28/04/2021
News Topic
Council
A shark caught using a Smart Drumline.

Randwick City Councillors met for their monthly meeting on Tuesday 27 April 2021 and considered a range of important matters including new transport, arts and open spaces strategies, the 2022 Budget, smart shark drumlines and limiting jet skis in Malabar.

The following is a summary of some of the items discussed.

Council to trial shark drumlines

Randwick Council will work with the Department of Primary Industries to trial shark drumlines and shark listening stations along the Randwick City coastline. The move follows a five-year, $16M shark management strategy by the NSW Government which found ‘smart’ drumlines were four times more effective than nets, more effective at catching targeted shark species and resulted in a 99% survival rate. The drumlines are typically located beyond the surf break and are checked morning and night with caught sharks tagged and relocated 1km offshore. Shark listening stations are buoys located in popular swimming areas which provide a real-time alert though the SharkSmart app, website and Twitter feed when a tagged shark swims within 500 metres. Randwick Council currently has shark nets along its beaches. These will remain in place while the shark drumlines trial is undertaken.

Mayor leads call for Malabar jet ski review

Council will conduct a safety review to consider limiting jet ski speeds in Malabar Bay to 10 knots. The move by Mayor Danny Said follows concerns from local residents and the Malabar Precinct Committee about jet skis travelling at high speeds and putting swimmers and snorkellers at risk. Council will contact the Department of Primary Industries Fishing to discuss the issue.

Call for spearfishing restrictions at Little Bay Beach

Spearfishing could be restricted at Little Bay Beach, under a proposal by Mayor Danny Said supported by Councillors. Council will now write to the Department of Primary Industries Fishing requesting consideration of the change and community consultation. Little Bay Beach is popular with spear fishers, but the small size of the beach has created conflict between spearfishers and swimmer concerned for their safety.

Budget & Operational Plan endorsed for exhibition

Randwick Council’s 2021-22 draft Operational Plan and Budget will proceed to public exhibition for 28 days after Councillors endorsed the plan. The draft Budget & Operational Plan proposes a record $85M capital works spend on new projects, upgrades and improvements for the community. This includes new sporting facilities, splash parks, community buildings, outdoor gyms, tree plantings, playgrounds and arts centres. Full details about the planned activities for the coming 12 months will be available for the community to view and comment on from Thursday 29 April 2021 at www.yoursayrandwick.nsw.gov.au and at Council’s Administration Centre.

Heffron Park Plan of Management proceeds to consultation

A revised Plan of Management for Heffron Park in Maroubra will be publicly exhibited for community comment seeking to recategorise areas of the park to reflect changing uses. All community land such as Heffron Park is legally required by the Local Government Act and Crown Land Management Act to be have a Plan of Management which outlines and categorises permissible uses. The new Plan of Management proposes changes to the categorisation within the park to better protect new areas of planting and to categorise the proposed Heffron Centre precinct as ‘community use’ which appropriately reflects the intended use.

Transport Strategy proceeds to exhibition

Randwick Council’s draft Transport Strategy will be put out to community comment after Councillors unanimously endorsed the draft plan. The ambitious strategy aims to encourage sustainable transport with objectives of achieving ownership of 5,000 electric hybrid vehicles in Randwick City as well as increasing the active transport mode share from 26% to 35% by 2031. The strategy also aims to reduce the proportion of private vehicle trips and to increase safety for road users by providing effective road safety programs and undertaking road improvement projects.

Accolades for ‘Save Little Bay’ group

A community group fighting a Meriton proposal to build 1,909 new dwellings in buildings up to 17-storeys high at Little Bay, has been commended by Randwick Council via a Mayoral Minute from Mayor Danny Said for their ongoing campaign. The planning proposal by developer Meriton was rejected by Council in June 2020, but Meriton is now seeking a review. The NSW Government is following due process in consideration of the review and has referred the planning proposal to the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel. The Panel will receive a briefing from Council, Meriton and the Department of Planning on 29 April 2021 and will undertake a subsequent site inspection. Following this, the Panel will determine whether the proposal has strategic merit and should be submitted for Gateway determination for public exhibition.

Randwick Junction Town Centre Strategy to be reviewed

A plan to reinvigorate the Randwick Town Centre along Belmore and High Street will be deferred to allow Council to undertake further feasibility analysis and fine grain urban design modelling against heritage values. The draft plan was publicly exhibited in November and December 2020 receiving 125 submissions generally in favour of public domain improvements. However some submissions raised concerns regarding potential traffic congestion, increased parking demand and concerns that uplift may adversely impact on the existing built heritage, character and streetscape of the centre. Council will now undertake more work to review strategy.

Randwick Council announces school pedestrian safety improvement blitz

Pedestrian safety will be improved at 29 locations across Randwick City with new raised wombat crossings, pedestrian refuge islands and traffic lights for an accident blackspot in Randwick City. The projects will be undertaken throughout 2021 and 2022 as part of a $4.375M grant recently awarded to Council under the Federal Stimulus Road Safety Program School Zones project.

Council sets targets for open space

Every home in Randwick City will have access to at least 1,000sqm of open space within an 800m walk by 2031. That’s the ambitious goal set by Randwick City Council’s new Open Space and Recreation Strategy which will be put out to community consultation shortly. Council is planning to acquire land within the Kensington and Kingsford town centres to build new parks as well as reviewing Council owned land and road reserves to identity opportunities for new parks. The plan also proposes building a BMX bike track, trialling a dog off leash beach and identifying new dog off leash parks in South Coogee, Kensington and Kingsford.

Randwick Arts & Culture Strategy put out for comment

Randwick City’s proud First Nations history will be celebrated and Randwick Town Centre will become a nationally recognised cultural arts precinct as part of Randwick Council’s draft Arts & Culture Strategy which will go on public exhibition shortly. The strategy follows community consultation and a study in 2019 which looked at opportunities for increasing arts and cultural activities including employment and open space. The plans will be on placed on public exhibition on Council’s Your Say Randwick site.

Media enquiries:

Joshua Hay – 0402 351 459 or joshua.hay@randwick.nsw.gov.au

Last Updated: 1 March 2022
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