Newcastle City Council and the state government are to be commended for committing more funding to the immensely popular Bather’s Way project.
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Last week’s announcement of an $11 million overhaul of the dilapidated skate park and promenade at South Newcastle beach will transform an area which is now far from welcoming.
It will provide younger skaters with a less daunting alternative to the Bar Beach bowl as they develop their skills and will offer riders of all abilities more variety.
The Newcastle Herald reported in 2010 that South Newcastle Boardriders Club members wanted the area improved, including new seats, shelters and showers.
“We actually would like . . . to make this area more family-oriented,” the now-defunct club’s president, Anthony Kelly, said at the time. “We’d like to see people not scared to come here.”
The newly announced project addresses those concerns and is another bold example of cooperation between the Labor-dominated council and the conservative state government.
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However, South Newcastle surfers have a point when they express concerns about the new skate bowl’s location. They argue that what appears to be a significant concrete structure encroaching on the beach will create backwash in the surf at high tide, which in turn will ruin the waves.
Of more concern to the wider community is that the beach is exposed to a handful of heavy and potentially damaging southerly swells each year. Rising sea levels and more storm events caused by global warming suggest the problem will only get worse.
It will be a shame if these storm swells damage the new skate bowl and force the council into regular and expensive repairs.
Another concern will be sand, which is not compatible with safe skating, especially in a bowl with a smooth concrete surface. Surfers fear a large storm will fill the skate bowl with both water and sand, and wind blowing sand across the skate park will be a more regular nuisance.
Only time will tell if these fears are well founded.
The council says three years of meticulous design work, taking into account tidal modelling, has gone into the skate park plans. Ratepayers will hope the engineers, architects and builders are on their game.
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