I note that the speed limit through the Gerroa Rd-Berry Beach Rd intersection has been reduced from 100kph to 80kph. This is a sensible outcome for road safety, but a damning condemnation for Shoalhaven Council and an atrocity against common sense.
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During the ’Battle for the Bum Tree’, the Mayor and her supporting Councillors were lobbied on numerous occasions by community groups and individuals to reduce this speed limit to 80kph. This would have allowed the Bum Tree andthe other cherished old growth blackbutts (now woodchips), to be saved. The 5 endangered Glider Possums(one found dead with its tail removed), and their successive generations would also still have a home.
A reduction of the speed limit would have complied with the ‘Ausroad guidelines‘. These were NON compulsory guidelines that Council staff and the Mayor doggedly insisted upon in their argument to condemn the old growth trees.
For those who may have forgotten some of the details of this woeful saga, here is a brief snapshot:
* The improvements to Gerroa Rd were funded by the Federal Government’s “Black Spot” program. One of the fundamental conditions for this funding is the undertaking of “widespread community consultation and participation“. This did not happen.
* The decision to clear was made solely by the Director of Assets and Works. Councillors were only required to award the tender. Environmental factors did NOT feature in Council’s deliberations.
*The Mayor claimed that Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), asked Shoalhaven Council to remove the trees. She later retracted this statement when an RMS representative publicly contradicted it and confirmed that the modifications were totally designed by Shoalhaven Council.
*Both the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Office of Environment(OEH) had concerns about the tree removal. In fact OEH opposed the clearing of the old growth trees and suggested a reduction in speed limits. NPWS were dissatisfied with the lack of consultation by council and the loss of canopy connectivity.
*The Bum Tree was within an area designated by the National Trust as a Berry District Landscape Conservation Area and part of a proposed Berry Corridor for wildlife.
*The Review of Environmental Factors (REF), was not made available to councillors or the public for appraisal (this appeared to also include the Mayor!). The date on the report is February 14 and clearing work started on February 17.
*Three endangered greater Gliders, and two Sugar gliders were removed from within the Bum Tree. Their whereabouts and state of health is currently unknown.
The good thing is that the speed limit is now appropriate for the intersection and the road will now be safer.
Sadly, however, the great blackbutt trees that stood as sentinels at that place for over 400 years are gone forever (at a substantial cost to the taxpayer!). We must all ensure that this fiasco of lack of proper process, and hubris on the part of some will never be allowed to destroy such valuable natural assets again.
Lest we forget.
Stephen Brazier, Gerroa
The weeks after my boating accident on the Shoalhaven River at Nowra in January this year , were disturbing, perplexing and sleepless. After all , I’d lost almost everything I owned , loved and valued . What I couldn’t understand was how the boat could burst into flames from bow to stern so instantaneously without me getting a hint of a problem.
It wasn’t until some time latter when the insurance assessor revealed that my yacht had clipped unseen overhead power lines at the exact point where the fire first started , that so many things suddenly made sense.
It’s only now, all this time latter, that I’m starting to get my life back in order. Having lived in camping grounds and with friends ever since, and the reality of how close I went to dying that day has finally hit home. Had I been leaning on the back stay of my yacht as I normally did, instead of leaning forward to navigate the currents and objects and markers in the river, I would have died instantly.
As Is so often the case when you pour everything into a project you love, the insurance money wasn’t sufficient to allow me to buy a new boat and I no longer have the “wear-with-all” to build another. Having saved up the courage to return to the location where it all happened, what irks me more is the fact that the power lines are extremely poorly marked where they hang over the river at Pig Island . Boats navigate through fog and rain these days with GPS chart plotters, AIS radar, depth sounders and google maps. Yachts coming in from out at sea, larger than mine, are able to navigate right up to Nowra Bridge, not to mention helicopters and para-gliders, yet they don’t even have fluro marker balls on the power lines. I’ve seen wires crossing dirt tracks and work sites marked better.
I would like to thank the South Coast Register and all those who helped me find my yachts dinghy on the river bank as it’s the last remaining piece I have of the boat I refurbished and loved. What I’m curious about now is whether anyone can remember something like this happening before and if anyone remembers the power going down at after 10 am on the Tuesday the 6th of January this year as that may have disrupted business that may in turn may convince the power company that they need to do something to rectify this problem.
If it’s happened once it can happen again….and next time someone may get killed .
David Everdell 048 990 557
Sydney