Public to get say on Bangalee Beach access

SHOULD a safer access point be found for vehicles using Farnborough Beach and where exactly would that be?

Clair Fitzpatrick and Cr Adam Belot walk down the steep incline at the Bangalee access to Farnborough Beach that has users concerned for everyone's safety.

SHOULD a safer access point be found for vehicles using Farnborough Beach and where exactly would that be?

It’s a question that has stumped local authorities for more than a decade.

And now the community will be asked to help find the answer.

This week Livingstone Shire Council decided it would consult Bangalee residents and key stakeholders on the issue.

It will ask them if they support the council investigating a viable additional and/or alternate northern beach access for vehicles using the Farnborough stretch near Yeppoon.

This comes on the back of councillor Adam Belot raising safety and congestion concerns late last year in relation to the existing Bangalee access to Farnborough Beach.

At a council meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Bill Ludwig said the authority had in the past conducted community consultation on this issue.

“We went through a very long and extensive process previously where the Bangalee community specifically wanted it (access) moved,” Cr Ludwig said.

“They wanted it (current location) closed.

“That’s something I certainly supported at that particular juncture of time.

“Because there is a community safety issue there for kids on that beach.”

At Tuesday’s meeting Cr Tom Wyatt said he and Cr Glenda Mather had seen first-hand the dangers at the existing Bangalee access during a visit there to meet with worried parents.

“We went down to inspect the complaints from the mothers,” Cr Wyatt said.

“And they were all there at that ramp.

“Even while we were standing there, the hoons came down onto the beach and didn’t even look.”

One of the complexities is that a lot of the land further north of the Bangalee access is privately owned by the Iwasaki Sangyo Company.

So the possible construction of any new infrastructure in that area would largely depend on the outcome of future discussions with that company.

Cr Mather said she was involved in the debate on this issue 15 years ago.

“We need to find a viable solution,” she said.

“Because I know the price tag that was on that alternative solution (previously) was quite substantial.”

In December, Cr Belot said recent traffic counts had seen as many as 800-plus vehicle movements in one day ­traversing the existing Bangalee access to Farnborough Beach.

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