New Tamarama kiosk location “boring”

Construction has started on upgrading Tamarama Park, renewing allegations the proposed kiosk is poorly located.

Labor Councillor Ingrid Strewe said the view from the site of the new kiosk – at the southern end of Tamarama Beach – is poor in comparison to the view where the kiosk has been located for a century.

“When we were looking at design, someone suddenly came up with the idea that we should put the kiosk on the southern side so that it would get the morning sun in winter,” she said.

“But I thought, ‘hang on a moment, [the new kiosk] is going to be attached to the toilets’. We’re going to have to build the concrete platform to put the chairs and tables on. We’re going to have to cut down all the trees [and] it’s going to get really hot in summer.”

Greens Councillor Dominic Wy Kanak argued the site of the new kiosk was “valuable open space”, and that a retreat from the urban environment had been lost.

“Council should have given more weight to the residents’ design for a configuration on the northern side of Tamarama Park, which kept the kiosk close to its existing location. But the conservative numbers on Council again did not listen to residents and did not vote favourably for this proposal,” he said.

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said the decision to move the kiosk was made with overwhelming support.

“I know some councillors are saying perhaps it shouldn’t be on a certain side, but that was some years ago. At that particular time, it was overwhelming to move it to the southern side. We made the decision and I think it was the right decision,” she said.

“We spent about two years in consultation with the public and then it was decided that we would move the kiosk.”

Ms Betts said the facilities needed serious improvement at Tamarama Beach.

“Tamarama is one of the most dangerous beaches in Australia and we didn’t have even a first aid room. It was also quite difficult for the surf club to get their rubber duckies onto the beach very quickly,” she said.

“Our existing toilets on the southern side were not in a very good condition, so we needed to upgrade the kiosk. It was decided that we would move the kiosk to the southern side, rebuild the toilets, and then on the northern side we would build a first aid room and some storage for the surf club boats.”

The new upgrades are expected to be completed in October.