Dear friends and colleagues,

It is essential that you write to the Lake Macquarie City Council voicing your objection to the continuation of the concrete so called cycle path through the core natural area of the Green Point Foreshore Reserve.

To build the slip form concrete way requires first a roadway to be constructed then the 2.5 metre path of concrete is poured and hey presto you have a totally foreign ribbon of concrete and a swathe of destruction through the core natural area.

The ribbon of concrete then brings further weed growth and rubbish and cyclists passing through.

Even a carefully constructed footway has its downside for a natural area but it can be used by urban people to visit, look, learn and appreciate the natural system and its subtleties.

The Plan of Management for the Green Point Reserve needs friends who will support it.

The Dilkerra bike path is the least important facility in the reserve.

If it cannot be built because it annoys the neighbours, the grades are unsatisfactory or it will create lots of problems at the Dilkerra end it should not be built at all.

Write to the Newcastle Herald write to the Lake Macquarie Council write to a Councillor, write to the Mayor.

Please write for the sake of Green Point Reserve and the retention of its key habitat and its core natural area at the northern side of the reserve.

Thanks from yours truly, and all the little creatures and plants in the reserve.

Doug.
Parks and Playgrounds Movement Inc

20 January, 2001

Councillors
Lake Macquarie City Council
Council Chambers
SPEERS POINT 2284

Dear Councillors,

Green Point Foreshore Reserve-Please Reject DA for Cycleway extension.

Please find the enclosed letter to the General Manager dated 20 January 2001.

Parks ad Playgrounds Movement’s fully supports Council’s current Plan of Management for the Reserve and the sensitive development of the Green Point Foreshore Reserve.

Regard must be given to the official Newcastle/Lake Macquarie Bike Plan and the adopted Reserve Plan of Management when considering bicycle paths in the reserve.

The Bike Plan intended that the link to Dilkerra Ave. from the proposed main entrance area of the Reserve at Green Pt. Drive be of local status. The Green Point Plan of Management designated this link as a secondary cycle path.

The Lake Macquarie Council should put a permanent stay on the construction of this next stage which is designated local in the bike plan and secondary in the plan of management.

No further funds should be spent on this link which will cause great damage to the reserve.

It is absolutely essential that the funds that are currently available for cycleway construction be spent on the identified regional cycle routes such as Croudace Bay Road or the Belmont Redhead section of the Fernleigh Track. These routes have the advantage that they directly benefit the Belmont commercial area.

Whereas the Dilkerra Ave. secondary link is destructive and has no demonstrable economic advantage.

For the above reasons we ask you to reject the Development Application for the Dilkerra Ave. local cycleway extension.

We have no objection if the funds were redirected to more essential work in the reserve.

Trusting in your help

Yours sincerely,

Doug Lithgow
Parks and Playgrounds Movement

20 January, 2001

Ken Holt, General Manager
Lake Macquarie City Council
SPEERS POINT. 2284

Dear Ken,

Green Point Foreshore Management and Bike Plan

The Lake Macquarie City Council and it predecessor the Lake Macquarie Shire Council have supported the concept of a bushland reserve on the shores of Lake Macquarie at Green Point since the early fifties. However it was not until 1995 that the proposal became a reality and the detailed Plan of Management was prepared in 1996. The plan incorporates the long-term strategy of the Lake Macquarie community for a Green Point Bushland Foreshore Reserve.

The Lake Macquarie Council’s support and commitment to the integrity of the Management Plan and to the sensitive development of the reserve was reaffirmed without dissent as recently as the 16^th of October 2000.

With regard to the current cycleway controversy Council’s responsibility and commitment to implement the plan of management for the 2.5 metre wide concrete bike path has been fulfilled.

The bike path extends from the Ross Street entrance to the Cardiff Point Sea Eagle Picnic Area and loops past the Sea Eagle Lookout to the main entrance at Green Point Drive. From the entrance area a link is made to the Green Point area and to Croudace Bay Road which is the official Regional Cycle Route. (Lake Macquarie/Newcastle Bike Plan LMCC 21/4/97)

Any further bike path in the reserve would only be of local or secondary importance and should be abandoned.

The Parks and Playgrounds Movement acknowledges that the work now completed is generally in accordance with the Plan of Management for the Green Point Foreshore Reserve and in accordance with the Newcastle /Lake Macquarie Bike Plan. We therefore request that Council halt the construction of a further 2.5 metre wide concrete bicycle pathway in the Reserve.

Funds from the current Green Point Project should be used to complete an attractive main entrance area for the Reserve at Green Point Drive and be used to restore the natural edges to the current concrete bike path. Further funds could be used to improve the cycle and pedestrian connection to the main entrance and to reconstruct the Sea Eagle Lookout.

The lookout is now connected to the main entrance with excellent wheelchair friendly grades.

The Movement hopes that our views will gain acceptance among Councillors and make the reserve more accessible to the people of Lake Macquarie.