Beach access enhanced by Mobi-Mats installation Myall Coast Myall Coast by News Of The Area - Modern Media - March 12, 2024 Virginia, the first satisfied customer, says the new mats make the slope much easier to ambulate. ACCESS to the main section of Hawks Nest’s Bennetts Beach has been made significantly easier with the installation of Mobi-Mats on Thursday 7 March. Visitors to the beach over the last week would have already encountered and enjoyed the enhancement. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au “Over the last few months MidCoast Council and the Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Surf Life Saving Club (TGHNSLSC) have been working together to try and improve the access to Bennetts Beach,” Kerrie Moore, TGHNSLSC Secretary, told NOTA. “TGHNSLSC have received a very generous donation of ‘ability mats’ from Redhead SLSC, and MidCoast Council has agreed to a trial of laying the mats along the current access. “The trial will be evaluated at the end of current season, late April, and, if successful, a permanent fixture of matting and barriers will be identified and sourced,” Ms Moore added. On Thursday, a grader and landscaping team organised by Council set to work, then SLSC volunteers David, Paula and Charlene laid the mats, securing them with 40 centimetre spikes that ensure they stay grounded. “It’s all about improving ease-of-access for pedestrians into the beach, and beach access for SLS vehicles, too,” explained David Lau, TGHNSLSC’s Building Maintenance Manager. “At the right angle, even regular wheelchairs can access via the Mobi-Mats.” Mobi-Mats create a rigid, interlocking pathway that provides all-weather traction, and hopefully defers some of the worst erosion, mainly caused by rain runoff down the hill, which has seen the underlying concrete path become alternately inundated and dangerously exposed. Three simultaneous projects were undertaken, including the turfing of the area immediately in front of the SLSC shed, and fixing up the corner and sand access to the beach lifeguard tower. The ‘first customer’ was Virginia, a local septuagenarian who remarked, “The slope used to discourage me, this new access mat is absolutely fabulous!” A MidCoast Council spokesperson told NOTA, “These and other recent works were funded through Council’s beach permit revenue, which invests back into projects that enhance our foreshore areas.” By Thomas O’KEEFE Tea Gardens Hawks Nest SLSC volunteers Paula, Charlene and David secure the Mobi-Mats in place. Job well done: Charlene, David and Paula finished with the Mobi-Mat installation. Before: The area in front of the SLSC shed about to be turfed. Turfing of the area outside the SLSC shed underway. Not a bad day at the office for the Council-contracted landscapers, cleaning up the main pedestrian access to Bennetts Beach.
