Whitsunday Regional Council seeks answers over Shute Harbour boat ramp concerns

Councillors have distanced themselves from decisions around a new boat ramp after a ‘huge push back’ against the chosen design.

Whitsunday councillors have defended themselves against backlash from the boating community around new launching facilities planned for Shute Harbour, blaming the state government for questionable design decisions.

Councillors this week said they had been “hammered” by complaints about a boat ramp currently under construction at the marine terminal redevelopment site, but stressed that “all the boat ramps throughout the area are TMR’s responsibility” and it was “not a council thing”.

Mayor Andrew Willcox said the Transport Department had known from the beginning the council was “not happy with” the chosen design, which included a floating pontoon and fixed walkway.

Recent social media posts confirmed councillors' comments that the community has been 'very vocal' about the new Shute Harbour boat ramp. Picture: Facebook.

Infrastructure Services director Adam Hagy confirmed there was “not a lot of consultation on the design”, and the council “did have some concerns” when initially presented with it, but said TMR had not provided an explanation as to why it had elected that option apart from “site constraints” and previous use of fixed walkways elsewhere in Queensland.

To remedy this, the council resolved on Wednesday to request a briefing from TMR to get those answers for their constituents.

Recent social media posts confirmed councillors' comments that the community has been 'very vocal' about the new Shute Harbour boat ramp. Picture: Facebook.

“Maybe they’ve got some valid reasons as to why they’ve done this, and how we got to this stage given we've had communications that council wasn't happy with it,” Cr Willcox said.

TMR was contacted for comment.