Resident's rail at Sydney's new suicide fence

Dec 28, 2009, 4:54 GMT

Sydney - A beauty spot called The Gap became the most popular place for suicide in Australia's largest city after barriers went up on the Sydney Harbour Bridge to stop pedestrians jumping to their deaths.

The local council wants security cameras, lights, phones and 80 metres of steel fencing to reduce the mortality rate - now running at one a week - but residents said Monday that the precautions would create an eyesore and scare away tourists.

With sheer cliffs and a raging ocean below, The Gap at the southern entrance to the harbour draws both sightseers and suicides.

'It'll look like a prison if it's got cameras and a big fence and everything,' local resident Gloria Clarkson told public broadcaster ABC. 'I don't think we need it.'

But Woollahra Council is adamant that fortifications are in order - no matter that those intending to take their own lives will simply move on to another location as they did when the Harbour Bridge option was taken from them.

Before the barriers went up in 1983, the bridge had claimed 40 lives. In the 22 years that followed, there were no suicides.

'There's evidence that these types of measures we are putting in will have an effect on reducing suicides,' said Woollahra Mayor Andrew Petrie. 'There's no doubt about it.'