Jim Green

WOLLONGONG -- 150 local residents attended a Rock Pool Rally at Wombarra beach in the northern suburbs on Sunday, August 28. There was unanimous opposition to City Rail's plans to deal with the region's stormwater problems by building a massive concrete tunnel leading out to sea at Scarborough Beach.

In recent decades, waterways in the area have been re-routed and damaged by the railway line, mining operations and poorly planned urban development. The upshot has been increasing problems with erosion and flooding.

The restoration option favoured by residents involves keeping waterways separate and as small as possible, in the process restoring the disturbed natural ecosystem as far as possible. This would involve extensive revegetation and re-routing water away from the trouble spots. It would involve local input and provide local employment. The price-tag is about $100,000.

The City Rail plan is for a 750m long, 3m x 3m tunnel to take stormwater out to sea. According to Jim Irish, a risk engineer and hydrologist who has recently prepared a report which damns the tunnel plan, the City Rail option is “environmental vandalism”.

It will adversely impact on the fragile beach and sea environments, and it involves taking a 16.5m chunk out of the Scarborough headland. This huge cavity in the headland, coupled with turbulence in the water, could cause landslides. Several aspects of the proposal have not been dealt with in the environmental impact statement and therefore it may be illegal under the NSW Environmental Protection Act. The price-tag for this boof-headed bureaucratic option is $6 million, likely to blow out by several million more.

Small wonder that locals are angry. The Rock Pool Rally was organised by the Wombarra Preservation Group and Scarborough Action for the Environment. Along with Jim Irish, the rally was addressed by Peter Corris, a local resident who has been involved in the campaign against the tunnel for several years, and who doubles as Australia's leading crime fiction writer.

There were numerous comments and questions from those present, and further informal discussion on the complexities of the issue and strategies to stop the tunnel. A petition was circulated and will be sent to Ian McManus, member for Bulli in the NSW parliament.

A positive outcome of the rally has been that there may be renewed debate about the issue in the Wollongong City Council, which until now has basically washed its hands of the issue and given City Rail permission to do as it pleases.

The issue is now urgent. City Rail's drainage tunnel specifications have gone out to tender, and contracts may be signed in the coming weeks. In the short term the main strategy for the campaign is to bombard the bureaucratic and political heavies with letters opposing the tunnel. You can help by writing to John Fahey, Bob Carr, David Campbell (Wollongong City Council), Ian McManus and City Rail. For mort information, including a useful newsletter, contact the Wombarra Preservation Group on (042) 681 434 or Scarborough Action for the Environment on (042) 673 524.

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