Mosman, Balmoral beaches: Covid warning as council predicts visitor influx

Crowds will return to harbour beaches in pre-lockdown numbers and one council has warned ratepayers it won’t be able to close packed beaches simply because “locals don’t like it”.

Balmoral, Edwards Beach and Clifton Gardens are among a list of Mosman beaches expected to be swamped with visitors as Sydney’s Covid restrictions ease in coming weeks.

After almost two years of largely having local beaches to themselves, Mosman Council has warned residents to expect an influx of beachgoers once Sydney reaches the third stage of the state’s reopening plan on December 1.

The council currently enforces Covid capacity restrictions in line with the current health orders through measures such as Covid-19 safety marshals monitoring crowds and educating the public on compliance.

A photo of Balmoral Beach earlier this year. Picture: David Swift

Drones are also used to count beachgoers and have been up in the air on about six occasions during the first and second outbreaks.

Tuesday night’s council meeting heard Balmoral has had to be closed once due to excessive crowds but from December 1 it is unlikely an influx of visitors would trigger a similar response.

“From December 1 (the current health orders) won’t exist and we can’t close a beach because the traffic’s backed up or it’s busy and the locals don’t like it,” the council’s general manager Dominic Johnson said.

The council said crowds are expected to return to Balmoral.

“The road map suggests it’s business as usual – people can circulate without having to stay in their LGA, they don’t have to wear masks outdoors and can congregate in numbers.

“No matter how frustrated residents are, they will have to live with the year-in-year-out frustration of lots of people and lots of gatherings.”

The state’s reopening plan shows from December 1, masks will no longer be required outdoors and density will shift to one person per 2 sqm for outdoor settings – half the current 4 sqm limit.

Drones are used to count beach numbers at Balmoral.

The council’s director of environment and planning Craig Covich said the council would continue to monitor capacity, but it was unlikely beachgoers would be turned away due to excessive crowds from December 1.

“When you go down to Balmoral it looks like a lot of people but there can be a lot of people on the beach while maintaining social distance,” he said.

“The decision to close the beach will not come lightly – I extremely doubt we’d close the beach again.”

The council will continue to monitor crowds at local beaches.

In response to the reopening plan, the council has released a Covid Outdoor Space Action Plan for the 2021-22 summer period to manage outdoor spaces.

The plan is a revised version of a similar 2020/21 plan that set capacity caps at 10 beaches and outdoor spaces.

Only five beaches are included in this year’s plans with capacity thresholds in place until December 1 of 1900 people at Balmoral Beach and Edwards Beach, 900 at Chinamans Beach, 600 at Clifton Gardens Beach and 150 at Balmoral Baths.

The council said the numbers are only one consideration when deciding on whether to close an area with poor social distancing and large groups that don’t disperse also considered.

A council spokeswoman said the majority of beachgoers have been following the rules over the last two years.

“Based on our observations over the last two breakouts the numbers have reached near the threshold but there was very good social distancing,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the use of drones includes an algorithm to count people on the beach to ensure manual counts by staff on the ground are accurate.

“We also use the imagery as a reference to judge busy peak times. We have also started to overlay parking occupancy data from the meters to get more of a comprehensive view of occupancy at different times at Balmoral,” she said.

The council said the summer action plan is subject to change if a second wave occurs or Mosman was identified as a community transmission hotspot.