A decision on the 'contentious' Buckland walking trail in a riparian zone, which went ahead without planning approval or detailed engineering drawings, has been deferred for the third time.
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The Glamorgan Spring Bay Council has deferred a decision until its February meeting on what to do with the Buckland Walk Trail moving forward.
The council received a $10,000 state government grant in May 2018 and work on stage one was due to be completed in January 2020, with substantial works undertaken.
However, residents raised concerns and work was ceased for further investigation.
It was found there was no evidence of community consultation, there were no detailed engineering designs before work commenced and planning approval would be required.
Councillor Rob Churchill said the council had not followed due process or its own policies.
"There is many issues here, at many levels, and I think there is a lot of things to be considered," he said.
"If we give this project the go ahead, we are effectively giving retrospective approval to a flawed project, which was clearly dividing this small community."
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The council had deferred a decision twice before, first at its May 26 meeting and second at its July 28, due to a lack of engineering advice and community consultation.
At its December 15 meeting, a motion to complete stage one was lost and a motion to rehabilitate the trail to its former state was also lost. Before a motion to defer any decision was agreed upon by councillors.
A questionnaire on the trail was distributed to 104 ratepayers, with 66 replies received in October and 44 of those were in favour of the stage one works being completed.
At the latest meeting, council staff recommended finishing stage one at a cost of $45,000, with ongoing maintenance costs of about $1000 each year.
Cr Grant Robinson said he felt the council would be sending the wrong message to the community if it approved the completion of the track and pushed for rehabilitation of the track to its pre-works state with Cr Churchill.
"There were lots of issues right from the start and a lot of those still exist," he said.
"It's an issue that has caused great angst in the Buckland community and I think it needs to be resolved."
The council is set to make a decision at its February meeting.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
