The harbour is being built by a contractor for the office that commissioned it. This council did not design it, does not hold the contract and cannot instruct anybody on the site, and says so plainly rather than taking credit or blame.
What the council does: attends the site meeting every fortnight, publishes each stage with its dates and what it closes before the stage begins, and reports what it was told including when what it was told turns out to be wrong.
What is closed now: the north beach from the old loading point to the coconut line, for the length of the works. That is a site and not a beach. Two families used to keep boats there and have been moved to the south point.
Working hours agreed with the contractor: seven in the morning until five in the afternoon, nothing at night and nothing on Friday. Anything outside those hours should be reported to the office the same day, with the time, and the council raises it at the next site meeting with the dates.
Stages ahead: stage three is the quay wall and the ramp, from March, about five months, and it closes the south point approach for three weeks in the middle of it, which is the fortnight that will hurt the growers most. The council has asked for that window to be moved out of the watermelon harvest and has been told it will be considered. That answer, and its date, is on the noticeboard.
Two changes the council has obtained: the working hours, which began as six in the morning, and a water bowser for the dust on the track past the school.