Once viewed as little more than a heavily polluted drain, Throsby Creek's ongoing revival has been plotted with the release of a new five-year-plan for the key Newcastle waterway.
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The "Throsby Creek Catchment Agencies Plan, 2019-2024" is designed to improve the health and attractiveness of the creek and its catchment, which reaches deep into the Newcastle suburbs, covering about 3000 hectares.
"This plan will improve the biodiversity and amenity of Throsby Creek," says State Member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp, releasing the document by the water at Carrington. The MP chairs the Throsby Creek Government Agencies Committee, overseeing the plan's implementation.
This is the first major plan for the creek's management in almost two decades. The initial plan was released in 1989, and it was followed up in 2001. Long-time Tighes Hill resident John Sutton points out the creek has come a long way since then.
"The great thing about this plan is that it's there at all," says Mr Sutton, a community representative on the committee. "What's revolutionary now is we've got a process for an ongoing plan for the creek, and that's a real breakthrough here."
The plan ranges across issues from restoring streams to dealing with pollution and sediment build-up.
The prospect of dredging the creek's lower reaches is also raised in the plan.
John Sutton believes dredging is necessary once more, "but that doesn't mean it must happen tomorrow". He says there has been an increase in odours, and "rogue mangroves" are sprouting in accumulated sediment, where they can impact on water flow and flooding.
John McLeod, a committee member and the president of Newcastle Rowing Club based on the creek's bank at Carrington, agrees dredging should be considered.
"Certainly from the odour point of view and the environment for the people living around here," he says.
The plan indicates a review of sediment levels was completed in 2018.
A spokesperson for Hunter Water, which manages the creek upstream from Hannell Street bridge and is represented on the committee, says at this stage, sediment levels do not meet the "trigger level" for dredging in the channel's lower reaches. That work, the spokesperson says, "would come at a cost of more than $7 million".
"Hunter Water will again review sediment levels in 2022-23," the spokesperson says.
The plan proposes undertaking further works to alleviate the effects of tidal flooding at Maryville and Carrington, and to investigate the possible implications of climate change.
"Even without climate change, the lower part of the creek is a flood-prone area, and climate change is only going to make that a bigger issue as time goes on," Mr Sutton says.
Tim Crakanthorp hasn't put a figure on the cost of implementing the initiatives in the plan. Some specific items have been budgeted for by agencies.
"However, there are many that aren't budgeted for," Mr Crakanthorp says, adding he will speak to the state government about funding.
John Sutton says he is confident that words on the plan's pages will lead to a healthier and better used Throsby Creek.
"It will never return to a pristine natural state, but it's about getting as close to that as we possibly can," he says.
Read more: The reinvigoration of Throsby Creek
