DEAR News Of The Area,

CATH Fowler’s derision of Mayor Amos’ community plan for the Jetty Foreshores in last week’s NOTA misses the point entirely.

The proposal is not about resolution of detail but about addressing the big question which has always bedevilled the foreshore debate: should that priceless harbour-side real estate be developed as a community asset or for commercial profit?

The NSW Government, whose plan Ms Fowler so strongly advocates for, assumed this question settled to their advantage from the beginning and have since used the trappings of a consultative process to justify an unwavering determination to develop their railway land for private apartments.

Ms Fowler spruiks the survey as proof of community support.

Many opponents of the plan felt incapable of completing this survey without feeling railroaded into its support.

I, for one, took every opportunity the structure of the survey afforded me to express my total opposition to residential development and still felt that Gurmesh Singh could count me as generally supportive of his plan.

Not all of Ms Fowler’s fellow PSAC members are as happy with the consultative process as she is.

Others (obviously including the Mayor) have been less than impressed, if not dismayed, by the government’s response to their input.

The Council, as consent authority, has rightly brought these issues to the Government’s attention by rejecting the plan and presenting Coffs Harbour residents with an alternative residential-free conceptual vision.

Let’s hope that a revised government submission arrives in plenty of time for public consideration before the March election.

Regards,
Frank SCAHILL,
Coffs Harbour.