Washed away: Maurice Cole with the drain he tried to stop washing away sand and cliff face at Bells Beach.
Erin Pearson
SURF Coast Shire has laid a complaint with police after an advisory committee member took matters into his own hands over stormwater damage to Bells Beach.
Former surfing champion Maurice Cole said he was now fighting to clear his name against allegations of criminal damage for trying to fix a drain threatening to wash away the beach and an adjacent cliff face.
Mr Cole, who the shire appointed to its Bells Beach advisory committee two years ago, said the allegations over his “in-house fix” were “pointless”.
He accused the shire of mismanaging the surfing reserve, forcing him to try fixing the drain.
Recent heavy rain had worsened the drain’s impact on the beach and cliff to a point where he “had to do something about it” amid shire inaction.
“Since March this year every time it rains the drainage system creates a geyser that shoots two metres high near the stairs. The water has been virtually exploding out of the pipe,” Mr Cole said.
Works about three weeks ago diverted drains in the upper-half of the Bells and Winkipop car park into the problem bottom drain, doubling water flow onto the beach, he said.
“I put a hole in each side of this pipe so the water would all just squirt off onto the sand and not erode the cliff face near the stairs and immediately the pressure went down.
“Now the shire is trying to paint a picture that I’m a loose-cannon vandal with no respect, except I’m the complete opposite.”
Mr Cole said the pipe system, in place since 1973, was recently found to contain asbestos.
The erosion was causing a “half-pipe” like effect on the cliff face surrounding a staircase to the beach.
“I had to so something to stop the damage,” he said.
“Now I’m fighting to clear my name.”
Mr Cole said the entire Bells reserve was in “dire need” of upgrading.
Among its problems was “50 metres of black sludge” seeping from the back of a toilet block into adjacent scrubland and a creek bed. Visitors were also defecating in the scrub and littering extensively throughout the reserve, Mr Cole said.
“I came onto the committee to become a part of the solution to a problem,” Mr Cole said.
“I was looking at the deteriorating infrastructure.”
Mr Cole, who has surfed at Bells for over 40 years, said he was shocked when the beach was involved in several awards at a recent Keep Australia Beautiful Clean Beaches presentation.
“It certainly coast doubt on the credibility of Keep Australia Beautiful,” he said.
Torquay Police confirmed it was investigating the complaint.
The Independent sought comment from the shire on Mr Cole’s claims but it had not responded before the paper went to press on Wednesday.
