The Friends of the Minnamurra River (FMR) say expert analysis of a consultant’s key report, recommending that there should not be a full environmental impact assessment of the effect of Council’s proposed Minnamurra River Boardwalk, has found the report “seriously flawed and unreliable”.

As reported in our last edition, the protest group believe that a environmental assessment should be done for the whole of the project.

The analysis was undertaken by Carl Glaister,  a highly qualified Illawarra horticulturalist and Leon Fuller, an internationally known expert on the flora of the Illawarra.

They say the consultant has grossly misidentified and misinterpreted the ecology and nature of the vegetation of the area around the proposed route of the boardwalk’s northern end, and its importance as part of a sub-tropical rainforest.

“Kiama councillors need to strongly question the accuracy and rigor of what they are being told about the impacts of the proposed boardwalk on the estuary and its entire sensitive ecosystem, soon to be protected by Commonwealth government legislation as critically endangered,” says FMR Chair Will Chyra.