Illegal wooden ramps apparently built for bike riders in bushland at Woronora and Engadine are to be demolished.
The large wooden ramps up to 20 metres long were discovered by a bushwalker last December in land zoned for Environmental Conservation.
The discovery prompted the Woronora Valley Residents Association to call on the council to demolish the illegal structures and step up security along all fire trails in the area.
Officials from the Department of Industry - Lands (DoI) inspected the site together with an officer from Sutherland Shire Council.
The DoI said the structures are unlawful and said they will be removed.
Signs will be placed at the site and on entrance points leading to the site, off Thorp Road declaring that the structures and activities associated with them are prohibited.
The DoI has the authority to remove the structures and to remediate the site under the Crown Lands Act and will initiate action to have them removed.
A Woronora residents said the demolition was a step in the right direction.
“It’s not a question of bushwalkers or mountain bike riders using the area,”he said.
“No-one objects to mountain bike riders. They are well behaved.
“This is about stopping an off-road playground for motorcycles and 4WDs.
“It’s a passive recreation area. It’s not for machines.”
The DoI will consult with Sutherland Shire Council prior to removing the structures to ensure necessary council approvals are secured as part of the removal process.
A Sutherland Shire Council spokesman said the council was investigating strategies in collaboration with Sydney Water and the NSW Rural Fire Service to secure access roads and fire trails into the area following repeated vandalism of the locks and chains securing the gates.