DEAR News Of The Area,

I COMMEND the City of Coffs Harbour Mayor, Paul Amos, for coming up with an innovative plan to retain the land owned by the Department of Transport east of the rail line in public ownership, while also putting forward a plan to enable the State Government to provide much needed affordable/social/key worker housing in the CBD.

With the population in Coffs Harbour continuing to increase, the need for higher density housing in the CBD, Jetty and Park Beach areas is becoming evident and is currently happening.

As such, there needs to be protection of parklands for future generations who do not have access to backyards and open space. The Jetty Foreshores is already widely used by the community, and will continue to be one of the city’s most visited locations for our community and tourists.

There have been some unwanted comments targeted towards the Mayor from certain parties, however I would remind everyone that, when standing for Council in 2021, Paul Amos was elected as Mayor receiving 62.21 percent of the votes after the distribution of preferences, which equals 15,115 votes.

Fairly decisive.

One of his election platforms was that the Jetty Foreshores land be held as parkland for the people.

He also stated that he was looking forward to making sure that the foreshore was looked after properly.

So contrary to people saying that this has come out of left field, this has always been one of the Mayor’s visions and we must also remember that, after looking at this proposal in depth, the vote to proceed by Councillors was six votes to two.

With regards to the provision of two blocks of land in the city centre for the State Government to build key worker or affordable housing, I find it extremely surprising that the local member, Gurmesh Singh, would not applaud this initiative, given his angst when the Argyll Street development was cancelled, for a number of reasons.

Affordable housing in the CBD is a much better solution than putting it at the Jetty Foreshores, which I doubt would ever eventuate, despite being shown as a possibility on the draft Masterplan.

The CBD provides everything within walking distance that would be required by owners/tenants.

All in all, I believe the proposal to the State Government that has been passed by Councillors is a great initiative and I can only hope that it does not fall on deaf ears.

Regards,
Helen OLIVER,
Coffs Harbour.