NEWS Of The Area,

I HAVE been trying to do more exercise lately, walking on the flat and trying to walk on hills.

I live in Macksville.

I have noticed a decided lack of footpaths in and around Macksville – why?

Boundary Street has two footpaths, why is this when most streets have none?

When walking along Matilda Street, it has school children walking and school buses travelling along it – no footpath?

There are usually cars parked along it, making it necessary to walk further out onto the road, making it more hazardous.

Walk along Cooper St past Autumn Lodge and we have to contend with bird droppings; you can hardly see the footpath.

There are problems coming our way with bird flu, so that area is a prime area for it to come into contact with humans.

There are more people on mobility scooters and wheelchairs now and the lack of footpaths are becoming more of a problem, and more noticeable.

You cleared the island of trees to help reduce the number of birds nesting on it, they are predominantly nesting in the paper bark trees.

So what do you do? Plant more paper bark trees around the lake?

Dawkins Park is looking very shabby along Cooper Street.

The grass gets mowed but the edges don’t, making the whole area look untidy and unappealing to potential visitors who come into Macksville along Cooper St.

The new footpath Council put in through Dawkins Park a couple of years ago is great, but the plants along the edge of it, next to the shelter and viewing platform, are covering more than half of the path.

Council obviously need to employ more outdoor staff to cope with the work that has been created in the Valley, rather than more staff indoors.

Regards,
Martin MOUNTFORD,
Macksville.