WOW Great Turn Out Today

Hi

Thanks to all those who turned up today on the site of the proposed development. Many of the 55 people I discussed the development with had great comments about how important this bush is to them and their families.

One person turned up to criticize which is fair enough and interestingly their concern was that the bush was too much of a fire risk and it should be bulldozed. Hey we are all different!

Whilst we got so many signatures on our petition today that is aimed at NSW Environment Minister, Matt Kean, Jodie Harrison MP Member for Charlestown and Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser, we can now promote the online petition which is under the Actions tab on this site. Please promote it wherever you can to get signatures. Numbers matter, so share it around.

This coming week the Planning Panel who have the power to approve, alter or deny the development will meet on Tuesday and there will be some locals who will get 3 mins each to speak, while the proponent will also get to address the Panel. So we will see what happens and we will await the determination with trepidation.

One thing that is annoying is that the assessment of the site by Lake Macquarie Council and also the proponents consultant (Elton Consulting) is that they suggest, "yeah sure there will be some damage done to the environment and sure there are vulnerable flora and fauna but not to worry, it will all be better protected when we clear 12 hectares of bush, build some houses and roads and then call the rest of the remaining bush a protection zone" This is like a doctor saying I'm going to cut off one of your arms but you'll be able to focus better on your remaining arm to keep it clean! That wouldn't convince me.

You just can't defend this proposed development by saying, "it's in the community interest", actually looking after the environment is in the community interest. So we need to tell the powers that be why this development is NOT in the community or the environments' interest.