Under pressure over tent city: fence gives safety for all

The cost of the new fence around the Coffs Harbour Community Village is “nowhere near” $200,000 says senior staffer.

The cost of the new fence around the Coffs Harbour Community village is "nowhere near" the $200,000 that has been bandied about according to a senior staff member at Coffs Harbour City Council.

Group Leader Financial Services and Logistics, Mark Griffioen says it is less than half that figure.

"The exact cost hasn't been finalised and it's a little bit commercial in confidence but it's nowhere near $200,000 and more between 70 to 80,000."

The perimeter fence - or safety fence as Mark prefers to call it - is in the final stages of construction.

The fence at the back of the village. Photo by Janine Watson

It was erected around the village due to a number of security issues raised by tenants and police that were documented in a security audit commissioned by Council earlier last year.

It's gained a lot of attention with some saying it's necessary to keep staff and clients safe and others saying it's disgraceful and will only lead to more tensions and further alienate people in need.

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The Advocate understands a number of tenants in the village are opposed to the fence.

"Council has been liaising with all the tenants and we understand not everyone is 100 per cent happy with the way we have moved forward, however Council has a varied tenancy base in the village and with a number of incidents occurring - we felt we had no choice but to implement the recommendations."

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The village is home to a number of service providers including the Neighbourhood Centre and Pete's Place but some have had to find a new location due to security concerns.

The audit highlighted a number of problems including unsafely discarded needles, inappropriate encroachment into service user and public spaces, rubbish and faeces left around the grounds, graffiti and challenging behaviour linked to mental illness.

Workers install the front gate of the new perimeter fence. Photo by Janine Watson

The fence is in the final stages of installation.

"We don't have the electronics around the front gate complete. We met with police on Wednesday with regard to protocols for locking it as various emergency services will need to have access at all times," Mr Griffioen said.

"It will be a matter of time before we get to the phase of having it locked but it won't be locked 24 hours a day."

Mark Griffioen, Council's Group Leader Financial Services and Logistics.

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The tent city that has sprung up behind the village has been the source of a number of complaints from the wider community and Mr Griffioen says Council has been under pressure to do something about it.

"The whole reason we got the independent expert (to conduct the safety audit) was because of the safety concerns raised - and there was pressure on a number of fronts to move people on from the tent city and we didn't think that was the best way to proceed.

"So to a certain extent, by providing the safety fence it has allowed Council not to progress down that track and providing a level of safety to all users of the village including the people at the tent city."

A number of services are housed in the village. Photo by Janine Watson

The decision to install the fence was not put to Councillors but they were made aware of the safety audit which included several different recommendations related to security measures - other recommendations include increasing CCTV surveillance.