Manager Darren Perry confirmed last week that the resort had made an offer to council to pay half the cost involved but the offer “didn’t even stir any responses or recognition”.

He said it appeared a “hopeless case” to get any council authority to recognise the need for Merry Beach, near Bawley Point, to be patrolled.

However the resort’s offer never made it past council staff.

Councillor Andrew Guile told the Times last week that councillors were never advised of the offer.

Cr Amanda Findley said she was surprised to hear the offer had been knocked back and that it seemed ‘unusual’.

As reported in last week’s edition of the Times, there is growing concern over the number of people being channelled from caravan parks onto unpatrolled beaches throughout the southern Shoalhaven.

One reader from Bawley Point told the Times last week that he had already saved a number of children from rips this year.

He said those people who benefit the most from the tourist influx at this time of the year – the region’s caravan parks – should help foot the bill for beach patrols.

Cr Robert Miller has thrown his support behind proposals for lifeguards on busy beaches such as those at Bendalong, Lake Conjola, Burrill Lake and Lake Tabourie, which are currently unpatrolled.

He said the number of people visiting this part of the city made such a service justifiable over the busy Christmas/New Year period.

Manager of the Holiday Haven Tourist Parks, Kevin Sullivan, said the parks enjoyed a close association with the South Coast branch of Surf Life Saving NSW.

He said Holiday Haven Tourist Parks had been a long-term sponsor of all four surf clubs in the Shoalhaven and had welcomed Surf Life Saving representatives into the parks to run surf awareness sessions for park guests.

Mr Sullivan said Holiday Haven Tourist Parks would be happy to look at any proposal that improves the safety of beachgoers “with an open view”.

Any final decision, however, would need to be made by council.