Radical crowd control and anti-litter measures are being considered after a popular city beach was again trashed by Christmas revellers.
Sydney‘s Waverley Council may be forced to bring in ticketing access and glass bans after an estimated 15,000 Christmas Day revellers, many of them backpackers or other tourists, left Bronte Beach a rubbish-strewn eyesore.
This was despite the council providing hundreds of extra bins and allocating a dedicated garbage truck to serve the site on Wednesday in a futile attempt to avoid a repeat of what had happened in previous years.
Newly elected Waverley mayor William Nemesh said major changes were needed, which could include a ticketing system to restrict the crowds coming to the beach on for the Christmas Day party – which has been dubbed ‘Orphan’s Christmas’.
A ban on glass items was also ‘definitely feasible and absolutely on the table for consideration’ he said, referring to shattered bottles and containers left covering much of the beachfront area.
‘There will definitely need to be changes made, because fundamentally, the lack of respect shown to our parks and our residents and community was quite appalling,’ Mr Nemesh told the Daily Telegraph.
Bronte Surf Club worker Brooke Hannam was still cleaning the area at 10am on Thursday along with her children Archie, Patrick, Chloe.
She said while public spaces should be enjoyed what was happening over Christmas was unacceptable.
Up to 15,000 people descended on Sydney’s Bronte beach on Christmas Day but locals said they mostly knew to ‘stay away’
One of Sydney’s most iconic eastern beaches has again been trashed by thousands of Christmas Day revellers (pictured: just some of the mess left behind this year)
‘It’s just a shame people don’t clean up after themselves. If you’re going to come and enjoy the beach, enjoy it, but be respectful,’ Ms Hannam said.
‘Our lifesavers … they give up their time to look after people in the water who don’t necessarily know how to swim. And when you throw alcohol into that mix as well, it becomes a really dangerous place.’
Randwick local Nicole Toigo said she didn’t think crowd restrictions or glass bans would work but she did call for greater security to stop dangerous behaviour.
Mr Nemesh has called on the NSW Minns Labor government to take some of the burden of costs off local ratepayers.
Waverly not only funds the clean up but also pays NSW Police to put on extra personnel at the site.
Spirits were high at Bronte beach among visitors -though it’s unclear how many stayed behind to help clean up
Many of the revellers who spent Christmas Day partying on Sydney’s beaches were backpackers and other tourists
Newly elected Waverley Council mayor William Nemesh said radical measures must be considered to stop the yearly disgrace
‘The state government needs to get more involved instead of cost shifting a lot of these hidden costs to council for us to manage – they need to come to the party,’ Mr Nemesh said.
‘We shouldn’t have to bear the expenses for crowd control in the way that we have been.’
However, the Minns government maintained costs were a matter for Waverley Council.
‘Waverley council collects significant revenue from beaches in its local area including millions each year in parking revenue,’ a NSW government spokesperson said.
The council previously investigated making the Christmas Day party a ticketed event but abandoned the idea over community concerns that this could also restrict access for locals.
With the beach forefront area being so large and having multiple access points a ticketing system was also considered costly and difficult to implement.
