‘The warnings are very clear’: Wollongong Council adopt climate change adaptation plan

Wollongong Council covered a wide gamut of affairs on Monday night including climate change, pedestrian safety and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Wollongong Council unanimously adopted its Climate Change Adaptation Plan (CCAP) at Monday night’s meeting.

The plan outlines the key risks the city is facing as a result of climate change while putting in place steps that can guide the council in responding to risks and reducing the potential impacts.

Former Wollongong councillor and Illawarra Green George Takacs spoke to the council at the beginning of its meeting, urging them to see the plan as the starting point, rather than an end point.

Former Wollongong councillor and Illawarra Green George Takacs spoke ahead of the adoption of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“Climate change is something that will be with us for eternity,” he said.

“It’s not something that will be done and dusted after tonight.

“Council must integrate climate change adaptation into everything it does otherwise it runs the risk of adapting on one and maladapting on the other.”

Mr Takacs also called on the council to avoid making “shrines of concrete” as well as avoiding synthetic turf and playing surfaces which can “easily” raise surface temperatures about 50 degrees.

The CCAP focused on 73 actions for council to implement, 27 of which are expected to be delivering over the next four years.

These actions are broken into short (2021-2030), medium (2030-2050) and long-term (2050—2070) goals.

The goals are divided into a number of categories including heat, emergency and bushfire management, flood plain management, coastal management to minimise the impacts of rising sea levels and more intense storms, and urban greening.

Greens councillor Mithra Cox said she was encouraged by the council’s adoption of the plan, but she said climate change was an issue which is already causing havoc across the country.

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“The report is bleak, unambiguous and terrifying,” Cr Cox said.

“Too many people, including people here on council put climate change into a little box … it frustrates me no end when [bushfires and floods] are referred to as unprecedented, unexpected or one in 1000 year events – they’re not unexpected, scientists have been telling us this is to be expected, climate change if fuelling these weather events.

“The warnings are very clear. It takes time to adapt, it will take decades to adapt.”

Any other business

Pressure of rogue construction sites

Wollongong Mayor Gordon Bradbery pushed through a motion to pressure building sites to better manage sediment and run-off, especially during rain events.

This came in the wake of weeks of rain which led to waterways throughout the region being filled with waste from construction sites, with the orange-stained rock shelf in Wombarra as a result of run-off from the Wombarra Vista townhouse construction site one of the most alarming examples.

The rain is causing building sites many problems. Often from poor drainage and sediment controls. Locals around Coledale and Wombarra (north of Wollongong) are watching polluted surface runoff affecting roads and causing a plume in the ocean. This needs urgent action.
@NSWEPA pic.twitter.com/gAfaxdLI0p

— Ian Wright (@drianwright) March 6, 2022

“There is the situation at Wombarra, but it was multiplied many times through our region last week,” Cr Bradbery said.

“It needs to be brought to the attention of the building industry.

“There is a moral obligation on those who stripped the land of vegetation to think beyond their development and their obligation to the community – it’s selfishness on their part.

“You just don’t clear a block of land and then walk away from it and wait for months until construction starts.”

Wombarra Vista townhouse construction site was fined $8000 in accordance with NSW Government‘s Protection of the Environment Operations Act, the maximum penalty.

Councillor Cath Blakey said the sanction was “pretty cheap” and asked for Council to write to the Environment Minister Matt Kean to seek an increase in the penalty that was “appropriate to the community’s expectation of seriousness”.

The mayor agreed with Cr Blakey and the motion was unanimously passed.

Council shows support for Ukraine

Cr Figliomeni put forward an emergency motion on the eve of the meeting calling for council to express its support for the people of Ukraine during the ongoing conflict with Russia.

The independent councillor asked for the council to condemn the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russian forces and communicate the stance to the appropriate embassies.

“The world has witnessed the most horrendous destabilisation event in the last 70 years,” Cr Figliomeni said.

“The West has been complicit akin to Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burnt.

“It’s the least and the little we can do to show our support to the Ukrainians in our community and the Ukrainian people.”

The Ukraine flag will fly outside @Wollongong_City council chambers today, as presented to the Lord Mayor at the St Volodmyr's afternoon service on Saturday pic.twitter.com/JZYeuxUGQl

— Cath Blakey (@CathBlakey) February 27, 2022

The motion was carried unanimously with a number of councillors speaking in support of it, even though councillor David Martin’s assessment of the conflict was, by his own admission, depressing.

“We shouldn’t really take on international affairs,” the Labor councillor said.

“But it wouldn’t take much for this to turn into World War III which we may not come out alive quite frankly and we might not be here for our next meeting which is a depressing thought for a Monday night.”

Pedestrian safety in Austinmer

Austinmer local Katherine Watson addressed council at the start of the meeting about community concerns regarding the intersection where Hill St meets with Balfour Rd and Railway Ave in the northern Illawarra suburb.

Ms Watson said she wanted infrastructure put in place to make it safer for people, particularly children, to more safely walk to and from school, the train station and the nearby Sublime Point walking track.

Austinmer resident Katherine Watson addressed council over pedestrian safety concerns in the suburb. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Three other concerned Austinmer residents attended the meeting in support of Ms Watson who indicated it was an issue the community has wanted to address for more than a decade.

Ms Watson said the group would like to see more signage and footpaths put in around the area as well as raised pedestrian crossing or roundabout as “something motorists would see and know pedestrians were around”.