Manly is set to get the surf club we deserve, after the Northern Beaches Council approved a plan to knock down and rebuild the existing Manly Surf Pavilion building. ​

Northern Beaches Councillor and Good For Manly President Candy Bingham, who has been campaigning for the project, said she was delighted that the work would go ahead. 

"When the existing club building was built in 1981 there were only 15 female patrolling members," Cr Bingham said. "There are now 760."

"It is the largest club on the northern beaches, and it's not only used by club members, but by the Bold & Beautiful swimmers and other community groups."

"Storage facilities are completely inadequate and the public toilets under the building are a disgrace. The toilets are over 40 years old, but they're used by more than 2 million beach goers every summer. Every day I get complaints about the state they're in.

"The great thing about this project is that the whole community will benefit. We'll get the new toilets and we'll also get community facilities in the new building," Cr Bingham said. 

Manly SLSC itself is 115 years old, and has occupied various buildings before the existing one. In 1981 the clubhouse was actually on the beach and could be accessed directly from the sand. 

​The club also has a huge collection of historic surfing artefacts and memorabilia. It's now in storage as there's no room to put it on display. The images below show: Frank Hurley's iconic image of the club and shark tower in the 1950s; Manly surf reel and long boards; surf life saving demonstration c1910.

The Council will carry out community consultation before a design is selected, and will soon invite expressions of interest from architects.
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Cr Bingham said she would like to thank Manly SLSC members and Council staff for their work so far, and Manly State MP James Griffin, who is sourcing State Government funds for the project. ​

         Work commences Corso Shops                   Artist's Impression of New Works

The historic facade on the first floor will be kept, but behind that will be new kitchen facilities, a row of flexible meeting rooms and offices. The set-back second floor, not visible from The Corso, will contain a 180-seat auditorium with a kitchen and cafe. There will be a large new basement for storage space. 

At ground level, the row of shops will have ‘consistent’ frontages and signage, with the church looking for up-market tenants, including ‘iconic’ clothing brands, and a high-end coffee shop. Manly’s much-loved chemist Malouf’s Pharmacy, which was in that row of shops and was forced to relocate, will be offered a spot.

The work will take up to a year to complete, but the experience will be softened with a mural coming to replace the existing ugly hoardings. 

​It’s official - our beaches are very good.

The latest State of the Beaches report rated all 32 Northern Beaches as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in terms of water quality and swimability.

​The State Government’s annual report showed that northern peninsula beaches did particularly well, with Palm Beach, Whale Beach, Avalon, Bilgola, Newport, Bungan and Mona Vale beaches all scoring ‘very good’ - the top mark. 

South Curl Curl was also rated ‘very good’, while all the rest of our ocean beaches, including Freshwater, Manly and Shelly beach, were rated ‘good’. 

Our harbour beaches did well too - with Clontarf and Forty Baskets pools, Fairlight Beach, Manly Cove and Little Manly Cove all rated ‘good’. All of these were the same as the previous year, except Clontarf, which improved. 

Good For Manly President and Northern Beaches Councillor Candy Bingham welcomed the result. 

“The water is such a big part of our life here on the Northern Beaches, so beach and water cleanliness is incredibly important to us,” she said. 

“This is a good result, and the council will keep working to improve the stormwater network and continue with bush and creek regeneration so our beaches stay clean."

Northern Beaches Council has signed a contract with waste management company SUEZ to process the entire contents of residents’ rubbish (red lid) bins. The process, which will be carried out at SUEZ’s Eastern Creek facility, will first remove any recyclable plastics or paper products. Organic matter will then be separated out and turned into compost material for use in agriculture and mine site revegetation. 
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The council originally envisaged residents sorting their own food waste and disposing of it in the green lid garden vegetation bin along with plant and lawn cuttings.  However the new strategy means all food waste will be recovered, with no need to rely on residents doing the right thing. 

The council selected SUEZ in August last year as a result of a tender process, with the new service to start in July 2019.

Council Deputy Mayor and President of Good For Manly Candy Bingham welcomed the extra recycling step. 

“The new process will recycle 70% of what gets thrown into the garbage - whether it’s food waste, or paper and plastics that are in the wrong bin,” Cr Bingham said.  “That’s a huge amount of material diverted from landfill and retuned to the economy.  

“This is a major step by the council to recycle as much as we can, but there’s still a big role for individuals to play, in not throwing away so much in the first place. ” 

The Council will also get a new fleet of garbage trucks after a 10-year contract was signed with United Resources Management (URM) earlier this month.  The new vehicles will have up-to-date safety features, emission-controlled engines and fully enclosed covers for the loading ‘hopper’. 

As well the Council will introduce a separate metal collection; and will work with local community groups to separate out and retrieve valuable items, such as furniture and white goods, from kerbside collections.

“Everyone I talk to has been inspired by the ABC’s War on Waste,” Cr Bingham said. “I have no doubt the community will work together with the council to recycle, reuse or  repair - rather than tossing things that just go straight into landfill.”

​Many people in the Manly community have worked hard for this for years, including Sharnie Connell from the Marine Conservation Society, the Surfrider Foundation, and Manly Environment Centre.  Our local MP James Griffin has also pledged his support. 

All up the proposed new park would deliver 25 new marine sites in the Hawksbury Shelf Bioregion between Newcastle to Wollongong, including sites at Dee Why headland, Long Reef, Narrabeen Head, Mona Vale, Bungan and Barrenjoey headlands and Lion Island, as well as Chowder Bay, Camp Cove and Nielsen Park. Despite this, 95% of the region remains available for fishing. 

More details here for  Cabbage Tree Bay and North Harbour Reserve. 

The government is conducting a public consultation process, before making its final decision. Have your say by Thursday Sept 27 at  https://www.marine.nsw.gov.au/key-initiatives/hawkesbury-shelf-marine-assessment

New ‘Airbnb’ legislation is on its way through State Parliament.  It’s an attempt to deal with problems with short-term lets in apartment blocks, and balance the needs of short-stay hosts and their guests, with the rights of other residents in the block. ​

Owners corporations (body corporates) can now pass by-laws banning short stay letting in investment units, although a 75% vote is required.  But it’s a different story for unit owners who rent out their own home - their principal place of residence. 

Owners corporations have no power to ban short-stay rentals of a unit owner's own home. There's no restrictions at all if the host is still living there and just renting out a few rooms; but new Environmental Planning Laws will limit the time the entire unit - host not there - can be rented out to 180 days a year. 

New ’Two strikes and you’re out’ laws are meant to protect other apartment owners from anti-social behaviour by short term renters. These are yet to be tested. 

A short-stay rental usually means anything less than 30 days, with Airbnb and Stayz dominating the market. 

Sydney Morning Herald 15/8/18. 'Developer chases $74 million payout in bungled Manly development'. It says:

"The builder contracted to transform a site in Manly's town centre has accused the former Manly Council of misleading conduct for failing to reveal it bungled the contract when the company signed up to the doomed project.

But the new Northern Beaches Council has levelled the blame at the previous council's general manager, Henry Wong, who it claims in court documents was not authorised to enter into the agreement....".   More here

​The reinstatement of the famous harbour pool and boardwalk came closer this month with  a $100,000 NSW Government grant received by the Council to undertake a Masterplan for the area.  For years Good For Manly has been advocating for the pool to be reinstated, with plans drawn up by eco architect Maurice Patten.  Now, thanks to the support of Local Member James Griffin, this community-lead project is back on the agenda.

The Masterplan will include extensive community consultation and consideration of this environmentally sensitive area.  First, here's a reminder of how things used to be. 

SEVEN MILES FROM SYDNEY - AND A THOUSAND MILES FROM CARE ...

​Picture the excitement as families rushed off the Manly ferry, hurried over the boardwalk and jumped into Sydney’s biggest harbour pool. 

Crowds of happy people would be eating ice-cream on the walkway, diving from the pontoons and high boards and spilling off the slippery dips and treadmills; shrieking and splashing.

From the early 1930’s locals and tourists alike flocked to the free public pool, dubbed the ‘best swimming pool in Australia’. Thrill-seekers sought out the high dive platforms and 15m waterslide and a generation of Sydneysiders swam and played in the protected waters behind the shark nets.

There were spacious changerooms and plenty of tearooms for afterwards. At night, from 1932, floodlights above and below the water lit the promenade and turned the water green. 

At its peak, over 250,000 visitors came to the baths every year, boosting local businesses which offered fun rides and speed-boat trips, as well as food and drink.  

The pool justified Manly’s famous slogan:  ‘Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care’, and the village revelled in its prime holiday destination status.

Originally constructed in 1931 by the Port Jackson Steamship Company, the boardwalk survived the wartime years but, by the mid ‘60s, maintenance needs were rising and there was talk of demolishing the structure. 

In May 1974 a severe autumn gale pre-empted the decision and destroyed the boardwalk so thoroughly that then owners, Brambles Industries, had no choice but to remove everything.

YOU CAN VIEW A WONDERFUL SHORT DOCUMENTARY ON THE HISTORY OF THE POOL, produced by local Marian Hambly, HERE

And here's our video of ideas for a new green, family friendly harbour pool precinct.     More details here.

A change to the alignment of the tunnel means the Balgowlah course can now be used for major construction work and later, as the site of one of the two tunnel ventilation stacks.  This move not only saves homes and bushland west of Burnt Bridge Deviation but also moves the stack further away from Seaforth Public School.  Permanent infrastructure, including the exhaust stack and a tunnel link road, mean that the site will no longer be viable as a golf course. Instead the government has promised that once the tunnel work is done, it will be reconfigured into playing fields or open space.

Changes have been made at Seaforth as well. The second tunnel access point and exhaust stack has been moved 500m further north along Wakehurst Parkway, as a result of concerns that the infrastructure would be too close to houses and Seaforth oval.  The government has promised that Seaforth oval sports fields will not be affected by construction work, and that work trucks will be kept off local roads.  As well, Wakehurst Parkway will get wildlife crossing sites, and a new cycle/pedestrian path, complete with an underpass.

Northern Beaches Councillor Sarah Grattan, who has been working closely with community advocacy groups, said while the changes were welcome, more needed to be done. 

“(The design) is not perfect by any stretch - but thanks to constructive community advocacy we have a much better proposal to work with,” Cr Grattan said. 

She said unresolved issues include the tunnel access site on Wakehurst Parkway, which has not been moved far enough north, and remains too close to homes on Kirkwood St. And the Balgowlah emission stack remains a concern as fumes may be trapped in the ‘Balgowlah  basin’. Cr Grattan suggests that airflow should be redirected in the tunnel to push the majority of emissions to the Wakehurst Parkway stack, which is on a ridge, and therefore better positioned for dispersal of fumes. Filtering the Balgowlah stack is another suggestion. 

Other concerns include construction traffic and road safety around Balgowlah Boys High School; compensation and transfer options for Balgowlah Golf Club members and the effect of a major construction site in Seaforth. 

Discussions are underway between the Manly Surf Life Saving Club and Northern Beaches Council to begin the process to upgrade facilities at Manly's iconic beach.

At the June Council meeting, Deputy Mayor, Candy Bingham, moved that Council prepare a report on:

1. The present condition and adequacy of the Manly Life Saving Club building.
   
   
2. What action would be appropriate to bring the Club’s building into line with present and foreseeable future requirements.
   
   
3.  The possibility of a design competition for a new building.
   
   
4. What funding options would be available, for a new building, including Government Grants.

 
A full report is expected to be competed by by October 2018.

Some Background on MLSC​​
Established in 1903 Manly Life Saving Club is one of the oldest surf clubs in Australia. It is situated at the iconic Manly Beach where an estimated 2 million people swim each year. 
 
The Club is run solely by volunteers, and is the largest on the Northern Beaches with 1975 members, including 705 young nippers and cadets, and 670 patrolling volunteer members.  
 
Manly’s volunteer lifesavers performed a total of 16,000 patrol hours and 3,950 water safety hours in the 2017/2018 season.  MLSC trains and refreshes credentials of over 800 people each year.
 
Why A New Building?
The existing building, which was constructed in 1981, is now totally inadequate for the current needs of the Club, and the community.  For example, when the Club was built, there were only 30 patrolling female members, there are now 760! 
 
The structure is in an extremely poor condition and provides no disability access. 
 
In addition, the public facilities are antiquated and totally inadequate.  For example SurfEducate host 200 schools and run 300 sessions on Manly Beach each year, a total of 15,000 students.

The Bold & Beautiful and other ocean swimming groups can tally over 600 swimmers on the average summer morning.  Even in winter these numbers still remain in the hundreds, seven days a week.  And of course there are millions of tourists each year visiting the beach.
 
Some years ago Manly Life Saving Club obtained a Development Approval to substantially remodel the Club, with an estimated budget of $5m required. However, present indications are that a complete rebuilding of the existing structure is required.

Council has committed $550,000 across three community grant streams in 2018/19 and local community groups are encouraged to apply.  Workshops will also be held to assist with how to to fill out an application.

There are the categories:

• Community and Cultural Development – closing 11am, Monday 6 August
• Events – closing 11am, Monday 6 August
• Sports and Recreation Infrastructure – closing 11am, Thursday 2 August.

 
Eligibility
Applicants must be incorporated not-for-profit organisations; however, individuals and unincorporated small groups may apply for a grant but must be auspiced by an eligible organisation.
 
Each grant program has its own eligibility, objectives and assessment criteria with clear guidelines and application forms are to be completed online. Contact details for each program are contained in the relevant guidelines.
 
Find out more
Information sessions are being held at Dee Why Civic Centre:
Community and Cultural Development and Events Grants:
Tuesday 3 July, 10am – 12noon
Wednesday 4 July, 6 - 8pm

Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Grants: 
Monday 2 July, 10am – 12noon  and 6 – 8pm
 
Two general grant writing seminars will also be held on:  
Thursday 5 July, 10am – 12noon at Dee Why Civic Centre
Thursday 5 July, 6 – 8pm at Manly Town Hall

A traffic study and improved pedestrian amenities are planned for Roseberry Street Balgowlah following an initiative by Clr Candy Bingham

Apology to Henry Wong
 
On 26 November 2016 and 27 April 2017, Candy Bingham published certain articles, and comments by others, about Henry Wong on the Good for Manly website.

On 8 August 2017, at a meeting of the Northern Beaches Council, Candy Bingham made certain statements about Henry Wong.

Candy Bingham unreservedly apologises to Henry Wong for the distress caused to him and his family by those statements, articles and comments and has duly withdrawn the offending materials from the Good For Manly website.
​
This apology is made as part of a confidential settlement of defamation proceedings brought by Henry Wong against Candy Bingham.

​On 18 March 2018 the Greater Sydney Commission announced the finalisation of the Greater Sydney Region Plan - A Metropolis of Three Cities and five district plans, including the North District Plan. North District comprises nine (9) Local Government Areas (LGAs), including the Northern Beaches LGA.

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The finalised plans outline the State Government’s strategic planning direction at the regional and district level and are intended to filter down to Council’s planning at the local level.
 
An earlier version of North District Plan (Revised Draft North District Plan) was reported to Council on 19 December 2017, and Council resolved to forward a submission to the GSC. There is no further opportunity to make submissions or request changes. 

Key features of the North District Plan relevant to the Northern Beaches include:

•  Strategic Centres at Mona Vale, Brookvale-Dee Why, and Manly
•  Health & Education Precinct at Frenchs Forest
• Land Release Area at Ingleside
• No change to housing and jobs targets, with councils to prepare housing strategies to meet a District-wide target of 92,000 additional dwellings by 2036
• Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link identified on the North District Plan Structure Plan
• Requirement for councils to review and update their Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) within 3 years
• More stringent policy statements for retention of industrial land and a requirement for Council to conduct a strategic review of industrial land as part of updating LEPs 
• A new requirement for high density residential development to be located within 200m of open space, in addition to the requirement for all dwellings to be within 400m of open space.

Outstanding Matters
The finalised North District Plan responds to some of the matters raised in Council’s previous submission. Matters that have not been adequately addressed relate to:

• Metropolitan rural lands;
• Transport corridors and public transport improvements;
• Urban renewal and local infill medium density housing; and
• Delivery of infrastructure to meet community needs.

Although there is no further opportunity to make submissions, the North District Plan is intended to be a ‘living document’ updated from time to time.  Council can continue to make its position known to the Greater Sydney Commission if and when opportunities arise in the future, in addition to utilising its own planning and development approval processes to pursue desired outcomes.
​
Implementation
The considerable and comprehensive planning work that follows on from the finalisation of the Greater Sydney Region Plan and North District Plan will need to be accounted for in Council’s future programs, resourcing and budgeting.

North District Plan makes reference to a number of planning tasks and deliverables that Council will be responsible for, including:

• Local strategic planning statement
• Review and update Local Environmental Plans within 3 years (i.e. by March 2021)
• Housing strategy in line with targets
• Affordable rental housing target scheme
• Strategic review of industrial land and broader employment study
• Ongoing collaboration on Frenchs Forest and Ingleside.

You can read the entire plan, here.
(Source:  Information provided by Northern Beaches Council)

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You can view the Council's Draft Delivery & Operational Plans, Budget and Resourcing Strategy here.

Move. We all need to do it but here on the Northern Beaches, it’s one of our worst problems. Now the Northern Beaches Council is taking the problem on, but they need your support. ​​

FINAL UPDATE:  March 27

Locals and visitors will still be able to have a glass of wine while the sun goes down, after the Council adopted a motion from Crs Candy Bingham & Sarah Grattan  for an 8pm curfew, and additional measures to control  anti-social behaviour at East Esplanade Reserve.

The motion, which was passed last night, is that Council

• Endorse the ‘Alcohol Prohibited Area’ at East Esplanade to an Alcohol Prohibited Area from 8.00pm to 8.00am to assist Council and Police to enforce the zoning.

 

• Undertake the deployment of night rangers or alternative measures to deal with noise issues and enforcement of Alcohol Prohibited Areas. If user-paid police are used at anytime that a quarterly report be prepared for council on dates and costs.

 

• Develop other strategies to clear the area of illegal drinkers.

 

• Refer the matter to the Northern Beaches Safety Advisory Committee for ongoing monitoring.

 

• Prepare a Community Safety Management Plan for East Esplanade within the next three months.

The purpose of the Safety Management Plan is to ensure that there is a clear direction on how the park is to be managed in the future.  This will include consistent signage, liaison with the Police, Council Ranger patrols and  lighting for example. An immediate change is that Council  landscaping work is set to start  in April. 

It was pleasing to see that new signs had already been erected in time for the Easter holiday weekend, and Ranger Patrols were scheduled.

​====================================================================================

UPDATE: Feb 28. At the Council meeting last night Crs Candy Bingham and Sarah Grattan put a four-point motion to Northern Beaches Council. As well as the call for council to monitor the area with night rangers or the deployment of off-duty police,  the motion called for a review of the current Alcohol Prohibited Area times with alcohol banned at 8.00pm instead of 4pm, to give locals and visitors a reasonable picnicing window. . The reinstatement of the former Manly Safety Committee which brings together community representatives, councillors, police and other relevant agencies, will reconvene shorty as the Northern Beaches Safety Advisory Committee and will be asked to continue to monitor the situation.

Although Council staff indicated that the budget was available to immediately start the deployment of off-duty police (at a cost of $55,000 vs $14,000 for night rangers)  the motion was lost with a deferral to the next meeting moved by Crs Pat Daley & Cr Stuart Sprott who are pushing for a 24 hour prohibited zone.

The matter is now on hold until the next meeting of Council on 27 March 2018.

BACKGROUND: Manly’s beautiful East Esplanade reserve is a crowd favourite for a few drinks as the sun is going down. But ‘the office’ is also popular for parties and drinking late into the night. And that leads to problems including aggressive behaviour, urination in public including in locals’ front yards, and piles of rubbish. The reserve is currently designated alcohol free after 4pm but clearly the ban is not working.

A Manly Community Forum residents’ meeting last week, attended by Northern Beaches Police Commander Superintendent Dave Darcy, and Manly Ward Councillors Candy Bingham, Sarah Grattan and Pat Daley, brought the issue to a head. Many locals said they hated the late-night parties and wanted to know why the alcohol bans were not been enforced by the Police or council rangers.

Good For Manly President and Northern Beaches Deputy Mayor Candy Bingham said while the situation  was unacceptable, police resources were limited and they should not be criticised for putting the most serious incidents first. She said the Council should re-introduce night and weekend rangers to patrol the park and deal with low-level complaints. 

“Manly Council used to have night rangers, but the service was lost with the amalgamation into Northern Beaches Council” she said. “We need to bring the council rangers back to take responsibility early in the evening, then the police would come in only if they were really required.” 

Cr Pat Daley called for a complete 24-hour drinking ban, but an informal vote at the resident meeting clearly favoured limited restrictions only. 

Supt Darcy said order maintenance in East Esplanade was “a team game”.  He supported the return of night and weekend rangers, and the reinstatement of the Manly Safety Committee. He told the meeting that people should call triple 0 if they see someone acting aggressively, or urinating on private property. For other issues, including loud music or late parties, they should call Manly Police Station. 

“Seventy percent of alcohol-fuelled violence in the whole Northern Beaches happens in The Corso,” Supt Darcy said. “We’ve had a huge improvement in that area over the years, but it needs tight policing, and that’s where my priority lies. 

Good as Cabbage Tree Bay is, imagine it even better. Manly's favourite snorkel spot will be part of a project to restore Sydney's lost underwater forests. It involves physically attaching starter crayweed colonies to bare rocks in the bay. The crayweed - a form of seaweed which once flourished along the Sydney coastline - has the potential to  re-invigorate the marine environment literally from the bottom up.

The project has been made possible thanks to the passion and generosity of local couple Dorset Sutton and Jenny Lim Sutton, and the creativity of scientists at Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS). 

The couple's philanthropy has a second focus too - transforming seawalls in Little Manly Cove into complex marine communities.  

SIMS Director Professor Peter Steinberg said 50% of Sydney's shoreline is built - mostly in the form of seawalls and jetties - creating an unnatural and difficult environment for sea creatures. 

The 'Lim-Sutton Initiative' means seawalls at Little Manly will be retrofitted with 'tiles' containing ribs and protrusions to mimic rocky shoreline habitats, and turning flat vertical surfaces into three-dimensional microhabitats for creatures as diverse as crabs, mussels, sea snails, sponges and algae. 

The 'living seawalls' can form the basis of an ecological community that supports marine plants, sponges, algae, molluscs, crustaceans and eventually healthy fish communities. 

"Jenny and I are thrilled to be able to help with these two great projects,” Mr Sutton said. “Restoring crayweed and naturalising the seawalls will boost the whole marine community and be a step towards getting these areas back to how they once were."

Professor Steinberg said both projects were part of larger endeavours.  He said crayweed (Phyllospora comosa) once formed 70km of underwater forests off Sydney's coast. The thick forests were killed off by water pollution during the 1980s, in an ecological tragedy that went unnoticed for almost 30 years. Now that our water is clean again, it's possible to bring them back. For more information and to help go to www.operationcrayweed.com

A Manly Hospital Community Workshop was held in early December by Northern Sydney Local Health District and Health Infrastructure to engage with key community representatives and stakeholders, and build on the work previously undertaken by the Manly Hospital Community Advisory Group (MHCAG). 
 
There is broad community support for the Manly Hospital Site to continue to provide health and wellbeing services and the aim of the session was to enable a mapping of the current and projected health services across the District, and identify potential gaps and service opportunities that may be pursued through feasibility and due diligence studies.
 
Who Is On the Committee?
A number of key community stakeholders including representatives from the Greater Manly Residents Forum and Manly Community Forum, Community Northern Beaches, Bear Cottage, National Parks and Wildlife, Royal Far West, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, One Door (formerly Schizophrenia Fellowship), Northern Beaches Council and Sydney North Health Network attended the meeting and provided valuable input into the workshop.  The Local Member for Manly, James Griffin also attended for part of the workshop and was represented throughout.
 
The workshop commenced with an outline of project governance by Health Infrastructure and an overview of the extended timeline in terms of moving the project forward, commencing with due diligence studies of the Manly Hospital site to occur in 2018. 
 
NSLHD provided an overview of the health services on the Northern Beaches including reference to the Northern Beaches Redevelopment program relating to the new Northern Beaches Hospital, the transformation of Mona Vale Hospital and the comprehensive approach to community health services, with a $100M investment for the establishment of major community health centres at Mona Vale Hospital, Brookvale and Dalwood.
 
The workshop examined the ‘health and wellbeing’ theme and  a range of service opportunities were raised including homelessness; affordable housing generally, including affordable housing for essential service personnel; Big Bear Cottage (young adult respite and palliative care); residential care for younger adults (35 – 50) with complex conditions (i.e. MS); services for the disabled; aged care services and mental health services. 
 
Stakeholders were asked to give thought to a range of considerations such as whether there was duplication of existing services; whether services were sustainable; community access; cost effectiveness; evidence of service need; consistency with service plans of the clinical networks and current & future funding arrangements and sustainability.
 

What is Happening Now?
Health Infrastructure has commenced procurement for site due diligence and zonal master planning which will start in early 2018 and discussions are underway with National Parks and Wildlife regarding the re-zoned environmental portion of the site (approximately 2 hectares).  
 
Separately, an opportunities matrix will be developed outlining the identified service opportunities, which will then be subject to intensive review and examination of data, analysis, best practice, demand for services etc.  This work will then inform a Future Use Options Paper initially, followed by a Project Brief, setting out the service need, development options, costs and processes to deal with the site post November 2018.  It’s anticipated this Options Paper will be presented to the Northern Beaches Health Service Redevelopment Project Delivery Board (PDB) by mid-2018.
 
The Project Steering Advisory Committee will meet monthly to support this process and provide regular updates to the workshop participants, and broader community on the progress of the Study.