DEAR News Of The Area,

UNFORTUNATELY, I have to congratulate our new Council for being such fast learners.

In only five months they have learnt and are now practising the same tactic that caused the previous Council to be so unpopular – ignoring public opinion and only listening to those who share their views.

After hearing that the current round of public consultation and the 3000 questionnaires completed by local residents showed that the majority wants the foreshores to be upgraded, five councillors supported the Mayor’s motion to oppose the current concept plan.

Only Councillors Swan, Ceccato and Pryce wanted Council to support the plan.

So much for representing the community.

To make their actions even more difficult to understand, most councillors ignored the detailed report from Council staff, recommending that the concept plan be supported.

The Mayor’s various supporters attempted to justify their position by claiming that “the community opposes the plan”, in spite of the clear evidence that the majority of the 3000 submitted questionnaires support the concept plan.

They all dismissed this survey as flawed and misleading, but presented no evidence to support their claims.

So we apparently have a Council where the majority don’t want to see any significant development of the foreshores and believe that their personal opinions are the only views that matter and it’s perfectly okay to ignore the majority’s wishes as expressed in a massive community consultation process.

Regards,
Doreen PILE,
Sawtell.