Eurobodalla shire councillors and former general manager Warwick Winn (fourth from left). Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Erosion of a slipway in Narooma’s Wagonga Inlet, ongoing damage to a house due to tall casuarinas on council land, and reforms that prohibit private briefings by council staff to councillors were discussed at Eurobodalla Shire Council’s public access meeting.
The ongoing issues of reopening Congo Road North and access to Maloneys Beach were also raised at the meeting on Tuesday (10 February).
Cid Mateo spoke about reforms that came into effect on 1 January to improve transparency around council meetings and how councillors make decisions.
He said that previously, after public access meetings, Eurobodalla shire councillors went straight into a private meeting where council staff gave detailed briefings on agenda items coming up at the next general council meeting.
Now, however, any private meeting, briefing, information session or workshop between council staff and councillors is prohibited before or after the council meeting agenda is published. All material given to councillors must also be provided to the public.
“I expect it is a big change for councillors not to have these briefings out of the public eye,” Mr Mateo said. “There is a lot of material to go through and you can’t be expected to know everything.”
He said there were ways briefings could continue, such as streaming them so that the public could be observers, but it was not yet clear how it would work.
“Because it is a big change for them, once they do decide, they should let the public know what they are planning to do,” Mr Mateo said.
The Congo Road North closure is an ongoing issue for Eurobodalla Shire Council. Photo: Region.
The Congo Community Association’s public officer Johanna Weaver again asked the council for an update on what steps it was taking to reopen Congo Road North.
She said it had been 18 months since the “ill-fated” court judgment was made against the council, four and a half years since the track in use was closed and 26 years since the council approved a resolution to formalise Congo Road, including with respect to Lot 197.
“Our community has been patient, but years of broken promises, delays and silence erode community trust and faith in our elected councillors and in council staff,” Ms Weaver said.
“Many in our community feel that the time has come to seek an independent review of council’s actions.”
Since the last public update in August 2025, she said, they had been told the landowner was agreeable to a land swap, enabling the road to be reopened.
“Has council sought an independent valuation? Has a survey taken place? If not, why not?” Ms Weaver asked. ”When will you update the community?”
Mayor Mathew Hatcher said the council would have an update on the website by the end of the month, and that there was ongoing work behind the scenes to collect the facts and negotiate with the landowner.
Ron Snape talked about the environmental and cultural damage that had occurred at a Forsters Bay slipway over the past two years. He said nearly 100 metres of oak trees had been “decimated”, with some being cut off at the ground level, with others poisoned and 15 having fallen into the mangroves. As a result, the bank was eroding.
He said a midden on the point had been reduced to “shell grit”.
Mr Snape said council staff had been fantastic, that NSW Heritage would be visiting the midden on 12 February and he expected the NSW Environment Protection Authority to become involved. He wants to see the area revegetated and the council to erect 15 metres of fencing along the council-owned reserve.
A diagram detailing where the proposed council works will take place. Image: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Lynn Morrison addressed the councillors about ongoing damage to her house due to a cluster of casuarinas that had grown from nine metres to 24 metres on adjacent council land. She bought the 1930s house in 2016 and at her request, the council pruned the trees in 2017.
She said their fine branchlets filled up the house’s gutters, their tannin had damaged her steel roof, there was water in her home through resulting rust, and the branchlets were also piling up under the house, potentially becoming a fire hazard.
Councillor Rob Pollock OAM said the legislation allowed for clearing, and general manager Mark Ferguson said the council could impose a buffer “as a good neighbour”.
Stephen Atkins, former president of the Maloneys Beach Resident Association, said the council’s December 2025 decision to provide vehicular and pedestrian access to the beach was “unwanted” by the majority of regular users of the beach, unsafe, over-scaled and “fiscally irresponsible”.
The council has exhibited the plans for public feedback. The draft document notes that heritage and environmental approvals are still needed, and further consultation will be required, including through a public consultation process.
