Sustainable Sport NEWS

Wollongong city Council has temporarily closed Helensburgh Mountain Bike Park as a precautionary measure to allow for further investigation into possible asbestos in the makeup of soil material on the site’s dirt tracks.

While the land is managed by Council, this site is operated under licence by Helensburgh Off Road Cycle Club (HORCC). Council is working with the Club’s volunteer members and want to see the park back in operation as soon as possible.

The park was closed on Thursday 4th May after concerns were raised with Council that there may be Asbestos Containing Material in the soil that has been used to form the jumps and potentially the surrounding tracks. The information had been provided to Council by representatives from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service who had confirmed the presence of Asbestos Containing Material within a recently installed dirt jump structure on their adjoining land.

Since the park’s closure on 4th May, Council has:

• Undertaken air monitoring at the site, and the results have shown there has been no detection of airborne asbestos.
• Organised for a Licenced Asbestos Assessor to undertake two surface inspections of the site and remove any items that could potentially be asbestos.
• Carried out pothole sampling at three locations across the site. This is to confirm if the soil used on the tracks is VENM (Virgin Excavated Natural Material) – as we are currently advised – or if it does not meet this classification.

Council is working with HORCC club volunteers to review the soil classification certificate, which will provide details of materials used for the most recent works to resurface the track.

Once the soil test results are in, Council will work through next steps for the site with HORCC representatives.

Council will also continue to liaise with representatives from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service as they carry out their own investigations on their land, which is adjacent to Council’s land. This land has also been used by the HORCC and has jump structures on it.

While Council appreciate riders will be keen to use the tracks, the temporary barriers marking out the closed bike area will remain in place during the investigations.

The sportsfields at Helensburgh remain open and are unaffected by this work which focusses on the land within the bike park.

Image. Credit: Wollongong City Council

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