Pictured above: Beautiful Radical Bay.
In a shock move the Lands Department is planning to announce the closure of the Radical Bay Road with locked gates to prevent any vehicular access.
Only those fit enough to walk around the cavernous potholes, or rich enough to own a boat, will be able to access Arthur, Florence and Radical Bays.
According to a Lands Department spokesperson, the Townsville City Council has been privy to secret negotiations to achieve this closure in direct contradiction to Mayor Jenny Hill’s promise in May to the Magnetic Island Residents and Ratepayers Association meeting that the Council would consider fixing the road as far as Florence Bay and creating a carpark there.
When asked why there had been no consultation with the community about this drastic step, the spokesperson said it was a matter of safety and far too important to let the community have any input.
The Magnetic Island Residents and Ratepayers Association objects strongly to this restriction on our use of the island’s best beaches and urges everyone who cares about our freedoms to contact both Scott Stewart, our local member, and Mayor Jenny Hill to make their feelings known.
MIRRA plans a protest soon in the strongest possible and legal ways to have this decision overturned.
It may be great news to some but for those locals like me that use these beaches regularly for family outings and activities like surfing this decision is a disaster. I am a keen nature lover and bushwalker but I also enjoy being able to take my family to these beaches on occasions in some sort of comfort. To go for an afternoon surf after work at Florence is something I really treasure but now this is not really possible because of the time spent walking. And there are more locals that do this than most of you probably realise. Young children, the elderly and the disabled no longer have access. On a weekend, with the new Carpark allready full…
This is the right decision by Lands. Keeping a corner of the Island free of vehicles will encourage visitors to the island. The Scenic Rim trail shows how large the market is for low-impact tourism. There are plenty of other beaches for those who want to drive hire cars to a carpark 50 m from a beach.
Neil Williams
Great decision from the Lands Department. Full marks for taking care of this beautiful area.
As a Townsville resident I regularly visit Magnetic Island and take visitors to our area to the island. The walk to Radical is lovely and the prevention of vehicle access can only improve that
Perhaps the local Townsville media could ask the Radical Bay landowners, Junipers, why they have recently relinquished their exclusive Permit to Occupy the thin strip of Unallocated State Land upon which the entire length of the privately built 'track' is located. Remember, the 'track' or private driveway is not a gazetted road, the Council has no right of access nor responsibility and all current users do so at their own risk.
A very positive outcome that now allows us to look at the appropriate development of this route as a walking track. The island needs beaches and bays with a range of levels of 'accessibility' not an open slather approach to allowing cars everywhere!