Access to Maloneys Beach has been through both formal and informal pathways throughout the decades. Photo: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
A South Coast advocate is claiming a beach access shake-up has raised extra challenges for disabled and elderly people.
John (who doesn’t want his surname used) and his family have lived for almost 40 years near Maloneys Beach, in the Eurobodalla Shire on the South Coast.
“It’s a nice beach, sheltered from the north-easterly winds,” he told Region.
“Our property is one street away … It’s just a nice, pleasant lifestyle.”
Previously, an access track led to an informal boat ramp before being decommissioned in 2008, while an informal and unpaved access road on council land was closed in 2023 after findings it allowed illegal camping, littering and environmental damage.
“You could drive your vehicle, basically, all the way to the sand and onto the sand if you really wanted to,” John said of the past arrangements.
“This gave you the ability to take disabled people, frail people all the way down to the beach. The facility was used very, very frequently by not just our extended family, but many within the community.”
The decision to close that unpaved access road was one that John says was ill-thought out by Eurobodalla Shire Council and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
He said it left people without easy access to the water, especially those living with a disability, limited mobility and the elderly.
“Obviously, there’s been an uproar with the community for multiple reasons, because that facility was no longer available, without any notice,” he said.
A step towards solving the dispute came when a narrow majority of Eurobodalla Shire councillors voted in early 2025 to build a new sealed road and additional paths located west of the toilet block.
According to the council’s proposal, the extension of formal access routes is expected to improve access to the beach while still blocking vehicles from getting onto the beach.
Council’s plans put forward a sealed road and timber barriers that would limit vehicle movements.
There would be 11 formal parking spaces and a pedestrian footpath leading towards the beach.
Eurobodalla Council says the proposed route would extend access for drivers and pedestrians. Image: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
According to an environmental study the council has released for feedback, the proposed new route would offer accessible and safe access.
“Option One [the proposal] will provide improved accessibility for pedestrians and vehicles. The proposed access road and concrete footpath will complement other existing pedestrian accesses to the Maloneys Beach reserve and increase the range and locations of public beach access provided,” the document states.
John said that while work on a fix was welcomed, the proposal “doesn’t satisfy the priority for the community” and called for the return of boat launching infrastructure.
“I’m perplexed as to why the priority – being beach launching access – wasn’t incorporated into that proposal.”
John wants the authorities to restore previous arrangements at Maloneys Beach.
“It’s an 83-page document,” he said of the environmental report.
“In that document, if you do a word search, not once are the words vessel or boat launching used.”
A council spokesperson told Region that accessibility for all was a key focus.
“The construction of a sealed access track and pedestrian footpath will improve the safety and accessibility of the recreational area for the community – including those living with [a] disability and the elderly,” the spokesperson said.
Have your say on the council’s proposal by visiting council’s website. Submissions close at 4 pm on 4 February.
