Observation Point is now covered under a new Plan of Management prepared by the local council. Photo: Jordan Kosalka.
A South Coast council has formally abandoned a proposal to let people camp in picturesque reserves following community backlash.
Eurobodalla Shire Council had started work on a Plan of Management (PoM) for Hanging Rock, which includes the Corrigans Beach area and Observation Point reserves in mid-2019, as well as a landscape masterplan.
The reserves are on the south-eastern foreshore of Batemans Bay, spanning Batehaven and Batemans Bay.
The PoM initally included a plan for low-cost camping, which drew criticism from business owners and residents.
An amended plan scaled back the camping proposal to only allow it during events with 24-hour security. The amended plan went before councillors for adoption at a recent meeting.
During the meeting, a business owner urged councillors to adopt the amended plans.
She said allowing camping would come with issues around extra noise and rubbish created by campers, while “enormous, costly” upgrades would be needed for the area.
She also said she had created a petition, which had more than 400 signatures, against the camping proposals.
“These people, like me, see this as a slippery slope … I say camping of any sort at Corrigans and Hanging Rock Reserve is reckless because no-one here today can guarantee [to] the community it won’t morph into something else, or have unexpected or undesirable consequences that council cannot effectively control.”
She also criticised the initial proposal for creating more accommodation for tourists.
“There’s a glut of accommodation capacity outside the two weeks of the Christmas peak season [to be found] across the whole of the Eurobodalla Shire,” she said.
“The aim should be to facilitate consistent and manageable events in the off-season, thereby supporting accommodation providers as well as other businesses that contribute to the local economy, not providing support for onsite camping organised by individual event organisers at the expense of existing accommodation suppliers who are already facing economic challenges.”
Another speaker said the initial proposal risked cutting off residents from accessing reserves.
“Batemans Bay explodes at Christmas and businesses handle that, so what’s behind the sudden need for camping at Corrigans and Hanging Rock?
“People should pay for staying in our town, instead of being allowed exclusive use of our parks and locking us out … We will have to pay to maintain the toilets, playgrounds and other things in our rates and taxes.
“It seems to me this is a backdoor to special interest groups’ exclusive use of our parks at the expense of residents.”
Ultimately, councillors voted to approve the amended version of the PoM.
It means that camping within the Hanging Rock and Corrigans Beach reserves would only be allowed under 24-hour security during events.
As a consequence, camping by event attendees and most other would-be campers wouldn’t be allowed in the area.
A proposed “emergency-related camping” was also clarified in the finalised document, meaning it would only be allowed in emergencies (such as a natural disaster) and when the site was a designated emergency evacuation centre.
It would also not function as temporary accommodation for homeless people.
During the meeting, a council staff member said that, should illegal camping occur, council rangers would be called in to respond.
The approved PoM noted that council had also abandoned plans for a proposed pathway connecting Corrigans Reserve to the Observation Point stairs, which was featured in earlier versions of the document.
The approved PoM, as well as the full meeting agenda, is available on the council’s website.
