The intersection of Gooreengi Road and Somerset Avenue, North Arm Cove, just off the Pacific Highway, has attracted regular illegal burnout gatherings since mid-2023.

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The gatherings generally occur late on Saturday evenings, and can feature around 40 cars.

“They turn up in large numbers, 30 or 40 or more,” said Paul Alexander, a North Arm Cove resident of three years.

“For a while there it was about every second week.”

Mr Alexander said residents are living in fear.

“A lot of the population here are quite elderly, and a lot of residents worry about their safety,” he said.

“A couple of residents have come home while they are doing burnout events and have been abused by the people there.”

Mr Alexander also expressed concern about the safety risks caused by rubber and metal debris.

“When they do the burnouts there are a lot of big clumps of ribber and steel left all over the road.

“They leave old tyres and wheels all across the road.

“In some instances there have been cars left burnt out.”

One North Arm Cove resident, who chose to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said a female visitor to her home had her passage blocked by a burnout gathering as she attempted to leave via the intersection at around 11:30pm.

“She called us soon after on her way home to say she had not been able to pass through immediately with cars and crowds at the intersection, many clearly loud and intoxicated,” she said.

“She felt very intimidated, persons surrounding her car while she was waiting for a clear path, not knowing what to do.

“Big and much older males were attempting to talk to her through closed windows.

“Another individual smashed a glass bottle on the road nearby; she was very scared.”

Another pair of locals told NOTA the path to their home was blocked by a car having its wheels replaced in the middle of the intersection.

After eventually managing to extricate themselves from the intersection and the crowd, the couple allege they were followed away from the gathering by a large ute.

After a recent burnout event, North Arm Cove Community Association President Bob Reid spent 40 minutes on a Sunday clearing debris from the intersection.

“There was burnout debris such as rubber strips and rubber/wire pieces all over the road, and fresh burnt rubber tyre marks,” Mr Reid said.

“Luckily I had some thick gloves in my car.

“Whilst I was doing this a lady from Carrington stopped and told me she recently got a flat tyre which she thought was from burnout wire.”

Mr Reid and the residents’ association are calling for MidCoast Council to take action at the site, particularly the installation of CCTV.

The Council maintains that installation of CCTV is not its responsibility in this case, given that illegal driving is a police matter.

“With respect to CCTV, Council has previously outlined its position, namely that the installation and responsibility for CCTV is not a matter for Council,” Council General Manager Adrian Panuccio told the group via email last month.

“That said, Council would be supportive of NSW Police if they opted to erect cameras at the location.

“Illegal driving is not something Council regulates or has the resources to manage.

“Despite not being a function of Council, installing CCTV to monitor this type of behaviour is simply not financially viable given that the behaviour may move elsewhere, leaving ratepayers potentially having to fund CCTV in other or future hotspots where illegal activity is being undertaken.”

Council will continue to monitor and respond to specific requests in relation to the clean-up of debris left on the roadway as part of its routine maintenance program.

Residents are advised to report any illegal behaviour to the police.