Council cracks down on odd beach trend
A local council on the NSW South Coast has had to put a stop to the latest bizarre measure people have been taking to reserve a spot at the beach.
Signs have been raised along Cliff Road in North Wollongong to not use glad wrap to secure public gazebos.
"This is a shared public space," the sign read. "The use of cling wrap or any material to enclose picnic shelters is prohibited."
Lord Mayor of Wollongong Tania Brown told Today that "it is crazy" council had to even take this kind of action, following the rise in incidents where people were cling-wrapping cabanas and picnic benches at local parks and beaches.
"It doesn't happen very often, but it's certainly around those peak days of Christmas, New Year's Eve and we've got Australia Day coming up, so we've seen it starting to increase," Brown said.
"So that's why we put signs up as preventative measures to remind people that this is prohibited, that our beach huts are there in public spaces for the benefit of all in our community and they cannot be reserved."
Brown said that the signs were put in place so people can come and enjoy what Wollongong has to offer, including 17 of the state's best patrolled beaches.
"We've just got to make sure that everybody shares that public space in a courteous and respectful manner," she said.
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