Revealed: Council needs beach area to be “groomed” and sewerage linked to full time bar
A well-backed next-level Broadbeach party venue on the sand requires levelling the foreshore and elaborate sewerage connection, community groups warn. Read the latest
Gold Coast
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A future permanent beach bar at Broadbeach will require levelling the foreshore area and elaborate sewerage connection, a community group warns draft management plans show.
Gold Coast City Council has provided a management plan for the Kurrawa foreshore in consultation with residents, showing a “new groomed beach area for events and beach sports”.
The other key structural change is a “sewerage connection to Kurrawa Terrace to enable efficient sewage waste disposal for events”.
A community group leader who researched the council plans said: “This means they will flatten the dunes to build a pad. It will destroy plant life, leading to erosion. If there’s a big event, they will need services like sewerage and water piped to it.”
One of the biggest complaints from residents about the Kurrawa beach bar trial was visual pollution with unsightly bins and portable toilets.
The environmental group has stepped up its campaign against beach clubs providing residents with an easy online format to respond to what SOS consider a council survey leaning towards creating a permanent event venue.
SOS leader Steve Gration in a preamble says the original three-month beach bar trial at Kurrawa from December 2021 was “a dismal failure”.
“Concerns raised included loss of public amenity – a large section of the beach and park – impacts to existing local businesses and destruction of protected sand dunes on the foreshore. “These were dismissed by the Mayor’s office and the trial went ahead,” he said.
A council report later said the beach club trial only partially operated on 47 days out of a possible 76 of trade due to typical Coast summer storm conditions, he added.
The number of visits dropped off rapidly from 20,863 clients in December 2021, to 17,007 in January 2022, and down to 4776 in February 2022, and only 2174 during March.
“It was estimated at the time the trial cost ratepayers more than $1 million, as there was no council charge for rent on the site, and ratepayers coughed up for all the associated infrastructure charges including waste and water management,” Mr Gration said.
He estimates add-ons like community engagement and hiring a consultant to produce an independent report cost ratepayers up to $3 million.
“The loss of public amenity to the local community, and the impact on local businesses who may have suffered loss of business during the trial – local bars and restaurants rent and council rates and service charges – meant there was zero return on investment for the local community,” Mr Gration said.
“It is clear the Draft Broadbeach Foreshore Land Management Plan is nothing more than a trojan horse for the beach bar to go ahead.”
Council’s leadership team last month backed beach bars with Deputy Mayor Donna Gates saying “we need a couple”.
Ms Gates, when Acting Mayor, said an initial trial was a success and the city had a “fantastic opportunity” to compete with Adelaide and Perth where beach bars were operating”.
Mayor Tom Tate has called beach bars a “no-brainer” with Premier Steven Miles’ support.
The council was working to resolve land tenure issues with the state while Mr Tate said “multiple top-notch players” in hospitality have approached about longer lease beachfront options.
Broadbeach councillor Darren Taylor gave a tick to beach bars when quizzed in a pre-election community survey.
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Originally published as Revealed: Council needs beach area to be “groomed” and sewerage linked to full time bar
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