The volunteer committee is pushing for the shared walk-cycle way from Dunbogan to North Haven to create a crucial accessible pathway for locals and visitors to get out and actively explore the Camden Haven River foreshore.

Beach2Beach Riverwalk Committee president Penny Small said once completed the pathway will be beneficial as it will provide increased safety for movement and enable people to be active.

“The tragedy will be if someone is seriously injured or killed because they weren’t able to safely access going from A to B,” she said. 

“That in itself should be priority enough when there is money available to drive the construction of the pathway.”  

The project received $500,000 state government funding in May, 2017. Port Macquarie-Hastings Council also allocated $160,000 in its 2017/2018 Operational Plan. 

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council director Jeffery Sharp said significant sections of the pathway have already been completed in areas that had limited environmental and heritage impacts.

He said the section which stretches from Camden Head Road between Scarborough Way and Seaview Avenue is planned to commence construction in the first half of 2018.

Mr Sharp said state government funding was provided for a section of the boardwalk over Crown Land which is currently subject to a native title application and significant environmental constraints. 

“The state funding was not allocated to council,” he said. 

Mr Sharp said an application to reallocate funding for the Strategic Plan (including Environmental Impact Statement) and design and construction costs for the section was recently approved by Transport for NSW.

“Council received the funding confirmation on December 12, 2017,” he said. 

The strategic plan will take approximately 18 months to be completed due to the extensive environmental and heritage factors. 

Beach2Beach secretary Andrew McCoubrie said the project has already enabled people to connect socially which is important for mental health. 

Mr McCoubrie said council is aware of the benefits of the project, as the committee has been pushing for it for the past four years. 

He said he would like council to take more responsibility and ownership of the project. 

Cr Peter Alley said the council will continue to work with the committee to ensure designs and construction will protect the natural environment and serve the community well into the future.

Cr Alley said while the sections of the pathway that have been constructed have added value to the community, the joining of them back to Laurieton and extension of them to Pilot Beach is the end-game.

“It is a marathon rather than a sprint,” he said.

“The sections that are required to navigate wetlands are, by their nature, going to be more complex.

“Some other sections are almost ready to go, but it often makes more financial sense to await co-funding from other levels of government so that more can be built with the limited resources, or to hold off until other service providers have completed their work.”