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While welcoming the triathlon, Pacific Palms resident and Forster Pacific Real Estate owner David Shaw says he and other residents strongly oppose the event’s road closures.

Mr Shaw, whose business opens at 9am and closes at 4pm, says the closures will mean he and other local businesses will be unable to open and will consequently lose out on trade.  

He claims council and event organiser Elite Energy have not entered into any proper community consultation about the road closures and that the June 30 community meeting was conveniently scheduled during a time of year when most people couldn’t attend. 

“I want to know why the meeting date was chosen for June 30 when in full knowledge most businesses effected would not be able to attend due to end of financial year accounting commitments,” Mr Shaw said. 

“Why only a small amount of residents received their letter box drop about the meeting and no elected councillors were present.  I’d also like to know why Ron Hartley wasn’t bothered to attend such an important meeting. 

“It seems there is no other choice but to protest on the day. No one will change anything despite them pretending to have a community consultation.  If we have to shut our business for the day then they should compensate us.” 

Great Lakes Council’s director of engineering services Ron Hartley said the slowest bike time is predicted to finish around 10.30am and businesses in the Pacific Palms area would be able to open soon after.  

“It is ludicrous for Mr Shaw to think his business will need to close for the whole day when the road will open by 10.30am,” Mr Hartley said. 

“Mr Shaw seems to ignore the large influx of people the event brings in, the resulting return visits and the potential new residents that events of this nature bring in.

“We attend meetings all the time and can’t attend every meeting. Council staff attended and provided feedback. No decisions were made on the night so it didn’t need councillors there.  The changes made were a result of council and Elite Energy listening to objections from the previous year and we have endeavoured to address those concerns.” 

Council’s executive coordinator of engineering services Andrew Blatch organised and chaired the June 30 meeting and said in no way did council, Elite Energy and the NSW Police “conspire” the meeting. 

“The date was chosen as the best fit for all four parties that were involved in the presentation. The NSW Police work on a four day on/off roster and Mark Emerton had to drive from Nowra,” he said. 

“To say that people could not come because of financial year commitments is an absurd suggestion.”

Mr Blatch said a flyer about the meeting was sent out to 4,000 homes in the area and had been advertised in the Great Lakes Advocate as well as in several shops at Boomerang Beach and on on council’s website. 

Pacific Palms Surf Life Saving Club nippers coordinator and resident Ian Sercombe said while he views the event as a positive he also sees it as economic gain for organisers and an inconvenience for residents.

“Looking at the times I appreciate that the organsiers have tried to minimise the effect on the Palms residents,” he said. 

“It’s not really fair to restrict those wanting to go about their usual recreational activities because a business wants roads for their gain.    

“If this were a not-for-profit event that offered some advantage to the Palms community then I think the residents would view it more favourably.” 

Elite Energy’s CEO Mark Emerton said organisers were discussing making a donation from the event to a community group.

He said last year’s dilemmas have been addressed and is confident the event will operate more smoothly. 

“Last year was a disaster and I will be the first person to admit that,” he said. 

“But the bikes will be off the road by 10.30am at the latest and that’s the worst case scenario.  I’ll be honest it’s going to inconvenience people for a short period of time.

“We always try to do our best and would prefer that the protest didn’t happen. But we’ve looked at so many options and this seems like the most workable.”

Mr Emerton said during the road closures vehicle access will be granted to residents in the case of an emergency. 

Great Lakes Council and Elite Energy are preparing a graphical representation of the road closure timings and will distribute the information via a letter box drop and throughout local media in the coming weeks.