Open letter to our Mayor
I request you humour us ratepayers and provide a ballpark figure of the amount of council expenditure incurred in the last financial year, in the following areas.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Travel and accommodation for staff and councillors. A particular interest would be the level of expenditure on corporate credit cards by senior staff in particular.
Here is your opportunity to demonstrate how open and transparent our council is by providing the information requested. Once the information is provided we may then be in a better position to offer suggestions on how the proposed rate increases could be implemented.
Snouts and troughs may come to mind if the facts are known so what will it be mayor, open or closed local government.
B.Cumberland, North Nowra
Against the tide
Did you know, that according to the majority of Shoalhaven City councillors, the sea level is not going to rise nearly as much in the Shoalhaven as anywhere else on the NSW coast?
Councillors reached this decision by rejecting recommendations from staff, their key environmental advisory committee, independent consultant as well as the outcomes of the recent Our Coast Our Lifestyle survey where an overwhelming majority of respondents did not support council approving developments in areas at risk because of concerns about the long term financial risk. Unfortunately, this is going to have far reaching implications.
Shoalhaven City Council's Revised Coastal Hazard Review, on exhibition until February 3, includes a series of revised maps with new (seaward) lines of reduced foundation capacity based on flawed sea level rise (SLR) projections - which are: 100mm for 2030; 230mm for 2050; and 350mm for 2100 (council acknowledges this level has an 85 per cent chance of being exceeded).
What this means for Collingwood Beach is that the Immediate Zone of Reduced Foundation Capacity will move seaward and the shared pathway and dune at Collingwood Beach will be landward of it - thus potentially reopening the Collingwood Beach dune vegetation lopping issue.
What the revised coastal hazard means more generally for the Shoalhaven Coast is this:
It is intended that, once adopted, SCC’s coastal hazard maps will be used to define the Coastal Vulnerability Area under the Coastal Management Act 2016 as well as the State Environmental Planning Policy (Coastal Management) 2016, when they come into force.
This will mean that SCC will be able to approve inappropriate developments in coastal zones that will put at risk public safety from coastal hazards, exacerbate, rather than mitigate current and future risk from coastal hazards and encourage land use that will increase rather than reduce exposure to risks from coastal hazards.
All of this is inconsistent with the Management Objectives for Coastal Vulnerability Areas set out under Section 7 (2) of the Coastal Management Act 2016.
If you are as concerned as I am, please make submissions on both Revised Coastal Hazard Review on exhibition until February 3 and on the State Environmental Planning Policy (Coastal Management) 2016 which is also on public exhibition.
A. Boutland, Ulladulla
We shouldn’t sell the farm to Indonesia
Malcolm Turnbull is selling off 70 productive farming lands near Townsville.
The buyer is Indonesia.
The farms will not be used as they are now, they will provide military training grounds for Indonesia.
This alarms me greatly and should alarm us all. Contact your local MP and express your concerns.
This is our country and we need our farms and farmers.