Winney Bay Cliff Top Walk: Council on notice to save $4.6 million funding
Central Coast Council has officially been put on notice, and given one final chance to claim the $4.6 million funding for the Winney Bay Cliff Top Walk.
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The clock is ticking — Central Coast Council has exactly 21 days to claim $4.6 million in funding for the Winney Bay Cliff Top Walk project.
Infrastructure NSW has advised council today that it has one final opportunity to save the $4,615,000 grant for the project.
Terrigal state Liberal MP Adam Crouch said there are exactly 21 days for council to decide whether to proceed with “Plan A”, or relinquish the funding.
“It really is that simple,” Mr Crouch said.
“The Winney Bay Cliff Top Walk is council’s own project. It has majority support from public
consultation, as well as endorsement from Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, Regional Development Australia Central Coast, and the 5 Lands Walk Committee.
“Handing back this funding would be a humiliating act for the Central Coast.”
The plan, which attracted the funding, includes a concrete path, wheelchair access, a bridge joining Captain Cook lookout to a new lookout and a cantilevered viewing platform.
Council stopped work at the track last year, after complaints regarding excessive bushland clearing during stage one of the project, and put stage two on public exhibition.
This led to the design being significantly altered and put the funding in jeopardy.
In March, council received a letter from Infrastructure NSW requesting they formally decline the funding, advising that the “requested changes to the existing project cannot be approved”.
Councillors instead voted to press on with the scaled back plans for a pathway following the existing track.
The issue has divided the Copacabana community and, at this stage, all that remains at the site is a stairway to nowhere.