Proposed Local Law amendments for Wellington Point Bathing Reserve.

Redlands Coast’s popular Wellington Point Reserve will be safer for bathers and watercraft users, with Wellington Point beach recently designated as a bathing reserve.

Mayor Karen Williams said Council had applied to the State Government in January this year for part of the Wellington Point Reserve to be gazetted as a bathing reserve.

“The State approved the application in May, and the area designated as a bathing reserve now has some new rules to ensure safety for all users,” she said.

“When the bathing area is formally patrolled and supervised by lifeguards, an area of the beach will be physically marked with buoys and flags for the exclusive use of bathers.

“When there is no lifeguard on duty, this area will not be designated as an active bathing area, and restrictions will not apply.”

Division 1 Councillor Wendy Boglary said she was pleased that the area would have clearer boundaries for swimmers and people who use watercraft.

“This serves the interest of public safety and amenity,” she said.

“When a bathing area is active, motorised equipment must be kept at least 60 metres from all boundaries of the marked swimming area, while non-motorised equipment must be kept at least 10 metres away.

“Because Wellington Point is one of our most popular aquatic activities areas, the seaward boundary of the reserve will be 200 metres from the beach, which is half of that of other beaches.

“This will help avoid interactions between people, boats and other watercraft.

“We will ask the community in the future if this boundary should be brought even closer to better accommodate mixed use of the area but, in the meantime, we encourage everyone to keep the new rules in mind as they continue enjoying our beautiful Redlands Coast bathing areas.”

Cr Williams said the restriction on how close watercraft could come to an active bathing area applied to all bathing reserves across Redlands Coast.

“The rules are the same at Main Beach, Coochiemudlo Island; Thompsons Beach, Victoria Point; Cylinder and Main beaches at Point Lookout and Adder Rock at Amity Point as they are at Wellington Point,” she said.

“This ensures safety for everyone.”

Redland City Council proposes amendments to its Local Laws to enable the gazettal of an area of the popular Wellington Point as a bathing reserve (see area map).

The making and gazettal of part of Wellington Point as a Bathing Reserve will allow for Council to establish and regulate the area as a bathing area for public safety, including providing lifeguard/lifesaving service patrols of the beach on weekends and summers school holidays.

In order for gazettal by the State Government of part of Wellington Point Reserve as a bathing reserve Council must amend its local laws to:

Amend Subordinate Local Law No. 4 (Local Government Controlled Areas, Facilities and Roads) 2015 to include Wellington Point Beach in the table of declared Bathing Reserves contained in Schedule 6.

Amend Subordinate Local Law No. 7 (Bathing Reserves) 2015 to remove non-motorised aquatic equipment such as surf skis or sail boards from the table of restricted aquatic equipment in Schedule 2 that is not permitted within 60m of a bathing reserve.

To include a provision in Schedule 2 that restricts non-motorised aquatic equipment such as surf skis or sail boards within 10 metres of a bathing area.

This means that any motorised aquatic equipment such as boats and jet skis, would not be permitted within 60m of the bathing area (when designated by red and yellow flags) in the Bathing Reserve. Non-motorised aquatic equipment like surf skis and sail boards would not be permitted within 10m of the flags.

This amendment allows for non-motorised aquatic equipment to continue to use the popular area of Waterloo Bay while ensuring the safety of bathers.

Clarification

Council appreciates the quality of survey contributions received on this issue and would like to provide some clarification.

• The effect of these local law changes is not intended to exclude existing mixed use by bathers and non-motorised aquatic vessels at Wellington Point Reserve.
• Council anticipates that areas will be available for continued shared use at all times, but with the addition of a safe bathing area.
• When lifeguard /lifesaving patrols of the Wellington Point Reserve beach are in operation on weekends and summer school holidays, non-motorised aquatic equipment will be required to use the remaining area outside of a bathing area, defined by the flags put in place on the day.
• This will in effect mean that only a portion of the Bathing Reserve area (see indicative image) will be off-limits to non-motorised aquatic vessels such as paddle boards and windsurfers when the beach is patrolled. Current uncontrolled mixed use will continue at all other times.

Please continue to take the survey and tell us what you think. Council will provide a survey summary on completion of the survey.

Further Information

Should you require further information regarding the proposed local law you can visit Council’s website, or phone 3829 8999. The proposed local law amendments will also be available for viewing during the consultation period at Council’s Customer Service Centres at Cleveland, Capalaba and Victoria Point. Printed submission forms can also be picked up from these locations.