First Pondi, now Panly: The new Sydney beach seven years in the making

For some of the 750,000 residents who call the Parramatta River catchment home, the opening of a new beach in Sydney’s north will be a relief after a seven-year wait.

However, this week’s wild weather has set back Putney Beach’s official opening to swimmers by a few more days: the City of Ryde has pushed back the official opening from Saturday to Wednesday, January 22, from 10am. The swim site is opening a year behind its original schedule after delays in the construction approval process.

After a year of delays, Putney Beach near Gladesville is opening as a swim site this Saturday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The idea of a swimming site was first floated in the Parramatta River Masterplan in 2018. But there have been water quality issues, owing to sewage from urban development along the river foreshore as well as the river’s industrial past.

Water quality expert Ian Wright said these issues were “totally predictable”.

“If you urbanise a catchment, water quality downstream will be worse,” the Western Sydney University professor said. “The further a swimming site moves away from the ocean, the more likely it is to suffer poor water quality because it doesn’t get that same flushing from the ocean.”

A council spokesman said a “dedicated water quality monitoring program” was established in 2019, involving fortnightly tests during summer and monthly tests in winter.

Ideas to build a swim site at Putney were first put on the table in 2018.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“There have been consistently good results in good weather, which is why the site was selected for a permanent swimming location,” the spokesman said. “This is on par with in-river swimming sites currently along the Parramatta River.”

The daily water quality forecast on the Parramatta River Catchment Group website warned beachgoers that pollution was “likely” on Monday. Wright attributed this in part to the recent deluge of rain polluting Sydney swim sites with stormwater.

“For young kids, people that have immune issues, people who are old or sick, they should be careful and take advice of the warnings,” Wright said. “If it smells a bit off, or it looks cloudy, don’t go in.”

However, he said those keen to take a dip could compromise and not put their heads underwater so as to “watch out for their eyes, ears, nose and throat”.

City of Ryde Mayor Trenton Brown said that “carefully curated open spaces” such as Putney Beach were critical for Ryde’s growing population.

“This new swim site – which joins others planned, or already operating, along the sparkling Parramatta River – will provide amazing recreation opportunities for our residents, who will no longer have to endure a long car ride to get to the closest beach.”

Residents in an online community group have playfully dubbed the beach “Panly”, akin to Penrith Beach’s nickname “Pondi”.

“Obviously, we’ll never be a Bondi or Manly,” said Councillor Keanu Arya in Ryde’s east ward. “But [Putney] is a place where it offers a bit more than just being a park.”

Ryde councillor Cameron Last said locals were excited to have easy access to a beach.

“We have beaches all over Sydney, but we don’t have anything in Ryde to access our beautiful river with,” he said. “I think people are excited to finally have access.

“It’s a big drive to the northern beaches or eastern suburbs, and Putney’s just so much closer for everyone.”

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