Lighting upgrade needed for Bay Run safety boost

Wednesday 13 June, 2018

Inner West Council will write to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage highlighting concerns about poor lighting in the section of the Iron Cove Bay Run that passes through Callan Park.

The former Leichhardt Council made numerous requests to the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority to install lighting along this section of the Bay Run.

This section of the Bay Run, which is the most unsafe, is currently controlled by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

With the Bay Run recently the focus of a disturbing series of assaults, Council will again lobby the State Government to focus on creating safe lighting levels for the route.

The Bay Run is one of the most used most used walking and cycling paths in NSW as thousands use the route each week and yet at night it becomes unsafe and inaccessible for many.

Whilst sections of the Bay Run are very well lit, there are still sections without any lighting at all, which poses safety dangers for runners, walkers and cyclists at night time.

Inner West Council this week approved an audit of lighting along the Bay Run after dark subject to finalisation of the 2018/2019 budget and will also consider an upgrade to lighting on the Bay Run beside the City West Link near UTS Rowers and between La Montage and the Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre in future capital works programs.

Council receives ongoing complaints regarding the state of lighting along the southern section of the circuit, with the section between Leichhardt Rowing Club and King George Park, currently under the management of Office of Environment and Heritage, attracting a high level of complaints.

Other areas of complaint include the section of the Bay Run beside the City West Link near UTS Rowing Club and the section between La Montage and the Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre.