Hoons an ongoing problem at Cocoanut and Timbers beaches, Zilzie

As unruly motorbike and car hoons continue to torment residents of a Queensland beachside community, a council has revealed what it’s doing to stop the problem and the mayor has also had a “light bulb” moment.

Livingstone Shire Mayor Adam Belot (inset).

It’s a problem that won’t go away - hoons being a “noise nuisance” and causing environmental damage on Cocoanut and Timbers beaches at the Capricorn Coast.

The issue plaguing the stretch of coastline at Zilzie, south of Yeppoon, has reared its head again with Livingstone Shire councillors receiving a report at their latest monthly meeting detailing what the local authority is doing to address community concerns.

Both beaches, which sit alongside the Zilzie community, are council controlled and just like the adjoining sand dunes, driving on them is restricted to authorised vehicles only under Livingstone’s local laws.

As the latest council report stated, the land adjoining the council-controlled areas is private property “which means there is no lawful access point, and you must trespass private property in order to access the sand dunes or beaches at this location.”

Livingstone Mayor Adam Belot has said he wants the council to “pull every lever within its authority” to support the law-abiding local residents of the area who are constantly impacted by hoons doing the wrong thing, sometimes on the seaside private property which is unbordered or unfenced.

Livingstone Shire Mayor Adam Belot at one of the key tracks which lead to Timbers Beach.

Further evidence of the impacts are revealed in council documents which state: “Council and Queensland Police Service receive frequent complaints from members of the Keppel Bay community in relation to vehicles and motorcycles causing noise nuisance and environmental damage on Cocoanut and Timbers beaches.

“Concerns are also raised about the personal safety of those pedestrians frequenting the area due to the nature and style of driving/riding of vehicles and bikes.”

Outlined in the latest council report, council rangers have acquired approval to access and install surveillance cameras on the private property.

The council has also installed prominent signage at the four known “key” tracks to the beaches which advise the public of restricted access areas.

A warning sign at one of the key tracks to Timbers Beach.

Further, it conducts random beach patrols and works closely with police to share information and better manage the situation, the report states.

Council signage indicates that people breaking local laws by driving on Cocoanut and Timbers beaches can be hit with minimum $718 fines, while those doing the wrong thing at Farnborough Beach can be slugged $309.

A Livingstone Shire Council spokesman said 45 fines had been issued in the past three months to drivers on all of the shire’s beaches.

While the council continues to explore options in relation to what it can do about the hooning problem, particularly on the areas that are private land, Mayor Adam Belot says one thing he wants to see, is a public access walkway/s to the beach in this location.

“This beach in particular (Timbers) adjacent to Keppel Cove, which now has over 400 houses and possibly around 1000 people living here - there is no legal access for them to get to the beach,” Mr Belot said.

“Whether that be pedestrian access, whether it be for walking along the beach just for recreational enjoyment or physical activity - that’s something that council, I believe, must focus on as a top priority.

“Putting aside whether vehicles are allowed on (the beach) here or not, there must be some sort of land change to allow easements or formalised public accesses through this private land.”

Motorbike riders have been a cause of concern for Zilzie residents. Generic image.

Mr Belot said the current situation of no public walking access to the beach “should never have happened” back when council approvals were granted 30 years ago.

“This is an example where the community has been let down through poor planning really,” he said.

“But we can’t live in the past, we’ve got to improve the future, and that’s why formalised accesses here to allow the community, at the very least, to be able to walk on the beach is absolutely important and a focus of this council.”

Mr Belot said creating a public walking access or accesses could be part of the solution to the hooning problem.

“The more public presence you have, the more that anti-social behaviour stands out and gets challenged,” he said.

“And that’s really something that we haven’t been able to achieve.

“We’ve looked at other measures that keep hitting the brick wall... but if we put people (public) through there, they will then (call out bad behaviour).

“It’s almost like a light bulb (moment) in the sense that it hasn’t yet been factored into ‘how do we solve this problem?’

“That could help us solve it.”

Whether or not vehicles should be allowed to drive on these southern beaches at the Capricorn Coast is also a matter subject to ongoing council investigations in consultation with special reference groups and the community.