Whitehill Road Realignment Survey

In May 2018, the City held a survey for residents and absentee owners of properties on the west side of Chapman Road within the locality of Drummond Cove and the Glenfield Beach Estate to seek community input on whether or not they wanted road access between Drummond Cove Road and the John Batten Community Hall to be re-established, and if so, what it should look like. The survey was held to ensure all community members from both Drummond Cove and Glenfield Beach Estate could have their say on the issue.

Read the Whitehill Road Realignment Community Survey Report here

Council's Decision on Re-Establishing Road Connectivity

The realignment of Whitehill Road was deferred by Council at the July 24 Ordinary Meeting of Council. Council Meeting Minutes here

Background

In early 2016, high tides and strong swells eroded Whitehill Road forcing its closure.  In July 2016, the City began sand nourishment of the site, which was the community’s preferred temporary solution to the erosion until a more permanent solution could be considered via Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Planning (CHRMAP).

The loss of this road connection has divided the community and resulted in a number of requests from local residents to re-open the road on its original alignment.  There have also been a number of requests for the road to remain closed.  However, fences erected on the coastal reserve to ensure community safety have been continually vandalised by people seeking access the beach or access between John Batten Community Hall and Drummond Cove Road.

Over the past two years, the City also undertook the development of its CHRMAP in which consultation results show that the community, as a whole, highly values the beach for sports and recreation use and the amenity it provides. Therefore, reinstating Whitehill Road on its original alignment would not only require significant and costly coastal protection works to protect the road, it would result in a loss of beach in front of the coastal protection works which the community would not support.

In able to better understand the local community's position regarding road connectivity the Whitehill Road Community Survey was undertaken.

Survey Overview

The Whitehill Road Realignment Community Survey comprised of two questions. It also included five maps of the possible options to re-establish a road connection, including the estimated cost to implement the option to assist respondents with their deliberations. (see APPENDIX 1 page 26 Whitehill Road Survey) The following two questions were asked:

1. Do you want the City to re-establish road access between John Batten Hall and Drummond Cove Road? 󠄐Yes/No
2. If you answered yes to the first question, which option do you prefer?

The survey also gave respondents that chose ‘Other’ in question two the opportunity to provide details of an alternative north-south road connection. Respondents were also given the opportunity to comment on the issue.

Finally, to ensure residents and/or property owners throughout the area had provided feedback, respondents were asked to state the street where they either resided or owned property and to state if they rented or owned.

Possible North-South Routes Presented in the Survey

Survey Results

An information sheet containing background information on the issue and maps of five possible north-south routes to realign Whitehill Road were mailed to 642 absentee property owners and letterbox dropped to 782 places of residence. In total, 1424 surveys were distributed to the local community. Of the 1424 surveys distributed to the community, the City received 372 responses from house/vacant block owners and renters, which equates to at 26.1% response rate.

The majority of survey respondents, 78%, said yes, they wanted road access re-established, 12% stated no, they did not want the road reconnected and 10% stated a neither a preference for, nor against re-establishing a road connection.

Of those who preferred to reconnect the road, 40% chose Option 3 as their preferred re-connection followed by Option 2 at 22% and Option 4 at 18%. There were eight alternative options proposed by respondents.

In terms of ownership, 93% (324 respondents) stated they owned their property and 78% (292 respondents) stated the street on which the property they own, or reside, is located on.

It is worth noting, of the 34 responses where no preference to re-establish a road connection was indicated, 33 chose one of the five options or ‘Other’ to reconnect Whitehill Road to Drummond Cove Road. Of the 46 respondents who were opposed to re-establishing a road connection, nine chose either one of the four options (1-4) or ‘Other’ to reconnect Whitehill Road to Drummond Cove Road.

Read the Whitehill Road Realignment Community Survey Report here

Council's Decision

The realignment of Whitehill Road was deferred by Council at the July 24 Ordinary Meeting of Council. Details on Council's resolution here