DEAR News Of The Area,

IN November 2020 I contacted Coffs Harbour City Council (CHCC) to voice my disagreement on changes planned for the boat ramp.

I was concerned and stated the plan would not work.

I did have a conversation with Mick Raby and he informed me that CHCC refused to be involved and that they had indicated to the State Government department that their plan had serious flaws.

Mr Raby agreed with me on the problems with sand migration and the harbour slowly filling and agreed the work being planned would not solve the problem.

The government wasted $14 million dollars of taxpayers money by refusing to accept Council’s in depth study results over the years from best practice solutions that have been proven to work.

My second point I would like to bring to your attention is the works being conducted on the outer harbour boat ramp.

I only found out about it in a short news article, as there is nothing on the Council website.

Years ago I offered my knowledge to council at the start of a dredging program using the Port Frederick dredge at no charge on initial consultation, to make sure council was receiving value for money spent.

Nothing eventuated from that contact and in the following weeks the figures being removed exceeded the vessel’s capacities.

From what I understand, the eastern rock wall of the boat ramp is going to be extended further to try and make the ramp safer for use.

In my opinion this will make no difference and the sand will only build up again over a larger area and I am assuming this from the news report, as there was no mention of removing sand from the outer harbour.

Kind regards,
Jim MUNRO,
28 years dredging experience Australian ports and overseas.